Factors associated with uptake of trachoma surgery among trachoma patients in Kajiado West Sub-County, Kajiado County

Abstract

Background: Trachomatous trichiasis (TT) remains a major cause of blindness worldwide, even with the expansion of trachoma-control  programs. This surgery is the backbone treatment option and its coverage rates have reported to be as low as 18% up to 66%, this  suggests low or incomplete coverage rates, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Objective: This study aimed at determining the factors  associated with uptake of trachoma surgery among residents of Kajiado West Sub-County, Kajiado County, Kenya.

Design: Analytical  cross-sectional design.

Participants: adults aged 18 years old and above and had been identified as having trachoma and also should  have been residing in the area for the last one year.

Results: 30.4% were aged between 30-39 years with the majority of them (87.5%) being married. At least 27.4% of respondents had undergone trachoma surgery. The uptake of trachoma surgery was higher among  respondents between 30-39 years (30.4%) and male (60.9%). Most of the respondents who utilized TT surgery had primary level of  education and had an income but there was no statistically significant relationship existed between the respondent’s income and level of  education with uptake of trachoma surgical services and all of the respondents utilized trachoma surgery had knowledge of the  procedure, however awareness of trachoma surgery was strongly associated with TT surgery uptake (p=0.0001).Trachoma surgical uptake  was slightly low across all age groups.

Conclusion: the low uptake of trachoma surgery indicates continued suffering of both the  affected population who require the service and their dependants, further exposing patients to unintended health outcome.