Association between water related factors and active trachoma in Hai district, Northern Tanzania

Families reported to use > 60 litres of water per day were less likely to have active disease (OR= 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1 - 0.3; P<0.001) compared to households collecting ≤ 60 litres. The risk of having trachoma increased with increase in distance to the water point (OR= 6.5, 95% CI; 1.8 - 16.7; P= 0.003). Households members who reported to use < 2 liters of water for face washing were more likely to be trachomatous (OR= 5.12, 95% CI: 1.87-14.6, P = 0.001). Increased number of preschool children in the household was also associated with increased risk of active trachoma by 2.46 folds.Improving water supply near the households and providing public health education focusing on improving households socio-economic status and individual hygiene especially in pre-school children in part will help to reduce the prevalence of the disease. In addition, integrating public health education with other interventions such as medical interventions remains important.Please see Additional file 1 for translations of the abstract into the six official working languages of the United Nations.Globally, 1.2 billion people live in trachomatous endemic areas, in which, 40.6 million individuals have active trachoma and 8.2 million have trichiasis [1]. Trachoma is highly endemic in developing countries especially in areas with poor water supply [2]. In endemic countries, the disease is focally distributed and may only be confined to some communities or households within a single community [3]. A number of household’s factors have been previously described increase the transmission of the disease [3]. Factors such as poverty, poor water supply and availability and poor sanitation have been described as the risk factors for transmission of trachoma [3,4]. Similarly, the presence of flies, amount of water used for washing children, absence of latrine at a household and disposing of animal dung close to the households were identified as additional risk factors for trachoma transmission [5-11].The ass