Awareness On Obstetric Fistula And Associated Factors Among Reproductive Age Women In Chalia District ,West Shoa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Background: Obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder, which leads to continuous leakage of urine and or feces. Globally, estimated 50,000-100,000 women develop fistula annually and approximately 2 million women currently live with fistula, which is a burden in almost 60 countries and continued as a neglected public health problem. Ethiopia is one of developing countries with poor maternal health care as well as high prevalence of obstetric fistula. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess awareness on obstetric fistula and associated factors among reproductive age women in Chalia District, Western Ethiopia, 2021. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 403 study participants from September 25 to October 30, 2021. Simple random sampling technique was used to enroll study participants. Hence, two smallest administrative units from urban and six from rural strata were selected by lottery method. Participants who scored above and or equal to mean score were considered as having good awareness and below the mean as having poor awareness. Pretested, interviewer administered and adapted questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS Version 25 for analysis. Bi-variable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were computed. Variables with p-value ≤ 0.25 on bi-variable logistic regression analysis were taken into multivariable logistic regression analysis. AOR of independent variables with 95% CI was used to declare statistical association at P-value of < 0.05. Results: This study showed that 20.2 %( 95% CI: 12.6-27.7) of reproductive age women had a good awareness of obstetric fistula. Independent variables such as living in urban (AOR=2.93:95% CI:1.59-5.39), educational attainment of more than secondary (AOR=4.82:95% CI:1.56-14.87), institutional delivery (AOR=2.21:95% CI: 1.27-3.84), contraceptive use(AOR=2.95:95% CI:1.23-7.06) and having prior information on obstetric complications (AOR=3.14:95% CI:1.52-6.51) were found to be significantly associated with awareness of obstetric fistula. Conclusions and Recommendations: The study showed that awareness of obstetric fistula was low. Residence, educational status, institutional delivery, contraceptive use and having prior information on obstetric complications were significantly associated with awareness of obstetric fistula. Therefore, special attention should be given for those identified factors of maternal health care issues, particularly that of obstetric fistula.