PREVALENCE OF ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AMONG CHILDREN UNDER TEN YEARS OLD Case study: Kibogora health center Period: January2019 - June 2022.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of A. lumbricoides and associated risk Factors among children under 10 years old attending Kibogora health center, Nyamasheke District, Rwanda. Specific objectives were: (1) to determine the prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides in children attending Kibogora health center.(2)To determine the risk factors associated with Ascaris lumbricoides among children attending Kibogora health centre.(3) To determine the levels of Ascaris lumbricoidesin gender of among children under 10 years old of both sex from the years 2019 to 2022. The study adopted a retrospective cross-sectional study design with qualitative and quantitative approaches. The target population of the study was children under ten years old whose size was 1628 from the sample size of 321 was drawn. Secondary data from 1

st January2019-31stj June2022 were used and questionnaire for risk factors. Data analysis was performed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software, version 23 . A total number of 321 children under 10 years old. Due to description of characteristics, this study found that the prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides was 23.7%. Where female participant were 174 (54%) while 147 (46%) were the males. The study found 76 cases were confirmed for Ascaris lumbricoides, among those confirmed 41 (12.8%) were females while 35 (10.9%) were males. Based on the level of Ascaris lumbricoides in ages of children from 1-3 years were 11.5%, from 4-6 were 7.5% and 7-9 were 4.7%. The distribution of levels of Ascaris lumbricoidesin gender, the most of them were female with 12.8% while the male were 10.9 %. The study show that there were more factors that influencing the Ascaris lumbricoides infection in the children under 10 years old at Kibogora health center was 76 (23.7%).the 65.7% were drink boiled water sometimes at home and 19.3% were never drink boiled water at home, 66.4% were wash their hands sometimes before their meals and 7.2% never wash hands before meals.67.9% were wash hands sometimes after meals 5.9% never wash hands after meals, 77.6 % were eat raw food at home, 78.8% were use tap water at their home and 21.2% use rivers or ponds, 79.4 % use human feces as fertilizer. The drinking boiled water were the determinant of suffering (with p-value < 0.000), wash hands before and after meals were determinant of suffering Ascaris lumbricoides (with p-value <0.000), using animal or human feces as fertilizer (with p-value < 0.014).This study concludes that, the prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides among children under 10 years old attending Kibogora health center was higher (23.7%). Intervention at eradication of Ascaris lumbricoides need to focus on the

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educating the population about wash hands after and before meal,drinking boiled water and wear personal protective equipment during using animal or human faces as fertilizer.