ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Scabies is a major global public health issue that might affect people from all socioeconomic levels. Globally, scabies affects more than 200 million people at any time. It remains one of the commonest skin diseases seen in developing countries including Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and determinants of scabies among school-age children in Central Armachiho district, Northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from August to September 2020. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 850 study populations. Data was checked for its completeness, coded, and entered by using EPI-INFO version 7 and exported to the SPSS version 20 for analysis. A Binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify the determinants of scabies. Crude odds ratio (COR) and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% CI were used as measurements for the associations. P-values <0.005 were considered significant. RESULT: Prevalence of scabies among the 850 participants studied was 10.82% (95% CI: 8.7-12.9). Contact history with confirmed scabies patient (AOR = 5.28,95% CI: 2.96-9.44), child not attending school (AOR = 3.08, 95% CI;1.45-6.54), rarely changing clothes (AOR = 2.43,95% CI: 1.27-4.62), sleeping on the floor (AOR = 4.11, 95% CI:1.95-8.67), bed sharing; (AOR = 3.38, 95% CI:2.86-6.15), rarely washing cloth: (AOR = 5.08,95% CI:2.75-9.36), living with internally displaced people; (AOR,95% CI: 3.47 (1.30-9.24) and using only water to wash hands; (AOR = 3.18,95% CI:1.74-5.80) had a statistically significant association with scabies infestation among school-age children. CONCLUSION: The current study found nearly one out of ten school-age children had scabies. Not attended school, contact history with confirmed scabies patient, not washing cloth, infrequent changing clothes, bedding sharing, sleeping on the floor, living with internally displaced people, and only using water for handwashing practice were the independent predictors for the occurrence of scabies. Health education better to given to the parents or caregivers about the washing of clothing, changing clothes at least once per week, and avoid physical contact with known scabies cases.
