Prevalence and risk factors associated with rural women’s protected against tetanus in East Africa: Evidence from demographic and health surveys of ten East African countries

BACKGROUND: Tetanus is a deadly bacterial infection caused by Clostridium tetani wound contamination characterized muscular spasms and autonomic nervous system dysfunction. Maternal and neonatal tetanus occurs under improper hygiene practices during childbirth. Globally, an estimated 3.3 million newborn deaths occur every year, and about 9,000 babies die every day in the first 28 days of life. This study sought to identify risk factors associated with the immunization of rural women against tetanus in rural areas in ten East African countries. METHOD: The data used in this study were taken from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of ten East African countries (Ethiopia, Burundi, Comoros, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Malawi, Ruanda, Tanzania, Uganda and, Zambia). Multivariable binary logistic regression is used to determine the risk factors associated with tetanus-protected women in east Africa. RESULTS: The weighted total samples of 73735 rural women were included in the analysis. The combined prevalence of tetanus immunization among protected rural women in ten East African countries was 50.4%. Those women with age of 24-34 (AOR = 0.778; 95%CI: 0.702-0.861), higher educational level (AOR = 4.010; 95%CI: 2.10-5.670), rich women (AOR = 3.097;95%CI: 2.680-3.583), mass media coverage (AOR = 1.143; 95%CI: 1.030-1.269), having above three antenatal care follow up (AOR = 1.550; 95% CI: 1.424-1.687), big problem of distance to health facility (AOR = 0.676; CI: 0.482-0.978) and place of delivery health facility (AOR = 1.103; 95% CI: 1.005-1.210) had a significant effect on women's protected from tetanus. CONCLUSION: The coverage of tetanus immunization in East Africa was very low. Public health programs target rural mothers who are uneducated, poor households, longer distances from health facilities, mothers who have the problem of media exposure, and mothers who have not used maternal health care services to promote TT immunization.