Trachoma is a worldwide infectious disease causing blindness. It remains a public health problem also in Ethiopia, which might be related to a lack of sanitation components in the prevention strategy. Therefore, we aimed to identify the impact of WASH intervention on active trachoma prevention.
The four meta-analysis findings showed that the odds of developing active trachoma in children were higher among households with no toilet (OR = 2.04; CI 1.82-2.50), walked > 30 minutes to get water (OR 1.58, CI 1.27-1.96), using unsafe water (OR = 1.43, CI 1.18-1.73), and no face washing practice (OR = 4.19, CI 3.02-5.81). The findings of the subgroup analysis also found that children from households who did not utilize the toilet, who did not wash their face > 3 times per day, and dwell in the Amhara region with no latrine had the highest risk of developing active trachoma.
We found strong evidence that lack of access to water, sanitation, and hygiene increases the risk of developing active trachoma. Therefore, the integration of the Trachoma Control Program and the WASH Program should be an alternative policy option. Besides, we encouraged further high-quality investigations.