Prevalence of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection Among School-Aged Children of Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Introduction Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are a group of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD), which is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. STH affect more than 1.5 billion people in tropical regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 1 Ascaris lumbricoides is the most prevalent STH infecting about 1.2 billion people followed by Trichuris trichi-ura (infecting about 795 million people) and hookworm (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus), which infects nearly 740 million people worldwide. 2,3 The high prevalence of STH in tropical regions is associated with low socioeconomic development and suitable environmental conditions that favor the transmission of these helminths. 4 According to World Health Organization (WHO), 568 million school-age children (SAC) live in areas where STH is intensively transmitted. 1 This indicates that SAC are at higher risk of being infected with STH. These could be associated with the fact that children are more exposed to contaminated soil when they play, walking barefoot, eat soil, and do not have good personal hygiene. It has been reported that the level of sanitation is very poor in developing countries; only 53% of peoples have access to improved sanitation facilities. 5 STH are responsible for chronic infections, which may lead to school absenteeism, delayed physical growth and impaired cognitive development, particularly learning, memory intelligence, and reaction time in SAC. 6 Soil-transmitted helminths is one of the major public health problems in Ethiopia that affect more than 79 million people, of which about 25 million are SAC. 7 The number of published studies on STH in Ethiopia has been increased in recent years. These epidemiological studies address not only the prevalence of STH but also the potential risk factors. There is a need to summarize the available epidemiological studies systematically to estimate the overall prevalence of STH at the national level and to identify high-risk regions requiring interventions. The WHO aims to control STH infections by 2020 by treating at least 75% of infected children in endemic countries. 1 In line with this, the Ethiopian government launched national mass drug administration (MDA) in November 2015 to reduce STH related morbidity. Such intervention needs a systematical summary of existing published studies to identify target groups and target regions. ABSTRACT BACkgRound: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are still major health problems in resource-poor countries. Despite several epidemiological studies were available in Ethiopia, summarized data on the prevalence of STH among school-aged children (SAC) is lacking in the country.