Trachoma prevention practice and associated factors among mothers having children aged 1-9 years in Debre Markos Town, Northwestern Ethiopia, 2024.

Trachoma is a serious disease that gets little attention. It has a higher impact on low-income population categories. Due to this reason, the World Health Organization plans to enhance SAFE strategies to boost community contribution. There are few studies done in Ethiopian cities and towns on trachoma prevention practices. Due to this, the current study focused on the level of trachoma prevention practice among mothers who had children aged 1–9 years to provide timely data for local authorities and scientific communities. A community-based cross-sectional study design was used from 10 November to 30 December 2024 to assess the level of trachoma prevention practice. A single population proportion formula was used to sample the study units. Structured questionnaires and an observational checklist were used to gather data. A pretest was used to verify the quality of the data collection instruments. The binary logistic regression analysis model was used to examine the data using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) version 27.0. For the independent variables, those with p < 0.05 were deemed statistically significant using the 95% CI. Among the respondent, 30.29% (95% CI: 21.31–46.71) of mothers had good trachoma preventive practice. Mothers who completed secondary or higher education had 1.35 times more likely good trachoma prevention practice than those had no formal education (AOR = 1.35; 95% CI: 1.08–3.05). Similarly, mothers who received health education within one year had good trachoma prevention practice 2.45 times more likely than their counterparts (AOR = 2.45; 95% CI: 1.71, 4.20). Mothers who spent < = 30 min for fetching water had good trachoma prevention practice 1.48 times more likely than who spent > 30 min (AOR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.24, 2.64). Mothers who had good knowledge had good trachoma prevention practice 2 times more likely than their counterparts (AOR = 2.00; 95% CI: 1.45, 5.07). Similarly, Mothers who had good attitude had good trachoma prevention practice 2.01 times more likely than their counterparts (AOR = 2.01; 95% CI:1.24, 5.21). In this study, most mothers had poor trachoma prevention practices. Completed secondary education, good knowledge, a good attitude, and a shorter time traveling to fetch water were significantly associated factors. This indicates that works are required to intervene such factors.