Indexing

Abstract: Intestinal parasites are endemic in most developing nations, including Rwanda, this is possibly caused by poor sanitation and low personal hygiene. The primary purpose of this current research was to assess the prevalence of intestinal parasite and associated risk factors in three selected health centers from Ruli district hospital. In this cross-sectional study, we used direct smear to assess parasitic infections from 380 samples; we also used structured questionnaires to collect data used to determine risk factors. We then analysed the data by SPSS version 16, Chi-square test and Cramer’s V. The general prevalence of IPIs found in this study was 51.8%. Entamoeba Histolytica was detected in 22.4% of the positive patients. Factors like not using both pipe, boiled and using stagnant water; of not cleaning kitchen materials with pipe water and detergent, not always cleaning the kitchen and not washing fresh fruits before eating; not washing hands with pipe water and soap, not washing hands after toilet, not cutting fingernails after growing and swimming in freshwater, lakes, stream and toilet utilization were measurably correlated with the prevalence rate recorded in this research (P<0.05).Based on these results, we finally conclude that IPIs were one of the significant issues in the study areas. Thus, the local health sector should collaborate with community health programs for providing health education to increase the knowledge, attitude, and practice about parasitic intestinal infections, their transmission mechanisms, and prevention and control methods.

Keywords: Prevalence, Intestinal parasitic infections, Risk factors, Rwanda.

Title: Prevalence of intestinal parasites and associated risk factors in Rwanda

Author: Moise Habiyaremye, Abakundana Nsenga Ariston Gabriel, Yuhua Jiang

ISSN 2349-7823

International Journal of Recent Research in Life Sciences (IJRRLS)

Paper Publications