Active trachoma among children aged 1-9 years in Ethiopia: A meta-analysis from 2019 to 2024

Abstract Background Trachoma is a leading infectious cause of blindness and of significant public health concern targeted for elimination. This study aimed to systematically summarize the magnitude of active trachoma among children aged 1-9 in Ethiopia from 2019-2024 Methods Database searches were conducted on Google Scholar, SCOPUS, PubMed, EMBASE, and AJOL for studies published between January 2019 to 31-March-2024 and with restriction to articles published only in English. Data extraction was done using a pre-prepared Excel sheet. STATA version 17 was used to perform the analysis. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed using I 2 statistics and Cochrane Q. Qualitative synthesis was done to summarize the studies and random effect model was used to estimate the Pooled magnitude of active trachoma with a corresponding 95% confidence interval. Result A total of 17 studies with 19793 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled magnitude of active trachoma among children aged 1-9 years was found to be 18.4% (95% CI: 13.88, 22.91). We found a statistically significant heterogeneity between studies. Among the regions, Southwest region was found to have the highest magnitude (44.1%) (95%CI: 41.8%, 46.4%) and Dire Dawa was found to have the lowest (4.3%) (95%CI: 2.9%, 5.7%). Conclusion The magnitude of active trachoma is higher than the WHO target for elimination. There was significant interregional difference in magnitude of active trachoma. Strengthening SAFE strategy and health education and promotion is recommended.