Abstract
Introduction: Pneumonia is a common and severe inflammatory condition affecting children under five years old, particularly in Southern Asia and Africa. In Ethiopia, approximately 3.37 million children under five contract pneumonia each year. Pneumonia is a major health problem in Ethiopia, and studying it can help improve child health outcomes.
Objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of pneumonia and associated factors among under-five children visiting outpatient departments of public hospitals in Jigjiga city, Ethiopia.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted at two public hospitals in Jigjiga city from March-June, 2024. A systematic random sampling was implied to collect primary data from 341 under-five children visiting outpatient departments. The data was entered and cleaned using Epi Info version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Multivariate binary logistic regression models were employed to analyse the data.
Result: The study revealed that the prevalence of pneumonia was 33.4% and the risk factors for under-five pneumonia were identified. Children carried on their mothers back during cooking (AOR: 4.32, 95%CI: 1.67-11.1), with history of house hold ARTI (AOR: 4.39, 95%CI: 1.49-12.6), partially vaccinated (AOR: 5.33, 95%CI: 1.09-26.07), unvaccinated (AOR: 7.18, 95%CI: 1.18-44.4), had diarrhea (AOR: 3.61, 95%CI: 1.8-9.44), being female (AOR: 2.6, 95%CI: 1.18-5.77) were significantly associate with under five pneumonias.
Conclusion: This study found a very high number of young children with pneumonia. Children who weren't fully vaccinated, were exposed to cooking smoke, had respiratory infections at home, had diarrhea, or were girls all had a much higher risk. This suggests that getting kids fully vaccinated and reducing indoor air pollution are key ways to bring down pneumonia rates.