Relationship between distance to social gathering facilities and risk of trachoma for households in rural Tanzanian communities

Few studies have examined the physical isolation of households with trachoma cases. Thus, in this study, we sought to examine the association between household isolation, as measured by distance to social gathering facilities, and risk of trachoma. We hypothesized that households located closer to s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 2011-07, Vol.73 (1), p.1-5
Main Authors: Montgomery, Maggie A., Desai, Mayur M., Groce, Nora E., Elimelech, Menachem
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to health care
Bacterial diseases
Bacterial diseases of the eye and orbit
Biological and medical sciences
Children
Data Collection
Disease prevention
Disease prevention Trachoma GIS Tanzania Geographic isolation
Diseases
Eye diseases
Female
General aspects
Geographic isolation
Geographical information systems
Geography
GIS
Households
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Prevention
Public Facilities
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Regression analysis
Residence
Risk
Risk Assessment
Rural Communities
Rural Population
Social Isolation
Socioeconomic factors
Tanzania
Trachoma
Trachoma - epidemiology
Trachoma - etiology
Villages
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Summary:Few studies have examined the physical isolation of households with trachoma cases. Thus, in this study, we sought to examine the association between household isolation, as measured by distance to social gathering facilities, and risk of trachoma. We hypothesized that households located closer to such facilities would have a decreased risk of trachoma, due to a variety of social, economic, and cultural reasons. To test this hypothesis we conducted a case-control study of 668 households (93 cases, 575 controls) in eight villages in Kongwa District, Tanzania, in 2007. Case households were defined as having a child aged 1–5 years with clinical signs of trachoma. Distance of household’s place of residence to three main social gathering facilities — bars/cafés, religious establishments, and commercial/government center — was measured with a portable geographic positioning system. Multiple logistic regression analyses, which controlled for potential confounders and accounted for clustering, demonstrated increased risk of trachoma with increasing distance to social gathering facilities. Compared with distances of ≤700 m, odds of trachoma were approximately two-fold higher for households living >1400 m from bars/cafés and from religious establishments, suggesting increased risk of trachoma for households at the fringes of communities. Targeting these isolated households with special programming along with dissemination through trusted social gathering facilities may improve effectiveness of current prevention efforts.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.05.003