Global Journal of Biology, Agriculture & Health Sciences

Abstract

Prevalence and Correlates of Khat (Catha Edulis) Chewing Among Dilla High School Students at Dilla Town, South Ethiopia, 2020: A Cross Sectional Study

Yetayal Berhanu Wolde* and Alem Eskeziya Ayenalem

Introduction: Catha edulis (khat) plant is an evergreen tree. In Ethiopia khat (Catha edulis) is commonly used for social and religious purpose. It is widely abused in East Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular for various purposes. Khat chewing has negative influence on the physical, psychological, physiological and economic well-being of the community. However, only few studies are available on prevalence of Khat chewing and its determinants in Dilla, Town; South Ethiopia. So the aim of this study is to minimize this gap by assessing Prevalence of Khat (Catha edulis) Chewing and Its determinants Among Dilla High School Students at Dilla Town, South West Ethiopia from April1-30 2020.

Methods: Quantitative school based cross-sectional study design was employed. The data were collected by using a self-administered questionnaire on a total of 332 students of grade 9th-12th using stratified sampling procedure. Descriptive statistics was done to summarize the dependent and independent variables. Data analysis was done by using SPSS version -20. Multiple logistic regressions were used to test the association between determinants & chat chewing, and P-value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Result: In this study, it was found that 102(30.72%) at 95% CI (28.02, 34.01) of studied participants chewed khat in their life time. Among those 98(29.52%) at 95% CI (24.08, 38.01) of them have chewed in the past 3 months and out of those, 92(27.71%) of them have chewed in the last 30 days. The current prevalence rate of khat chewing from the total respondents was 27.71%.at 95% CI (11.02, 28.01) being follower of Muslim religion (Std.β =3.31, 95% C.I:2.4, 5.82), having friend who chews khat (Std.β =3.91, 95% C.I:1.53, 4.45) and having family who chews khat (Std.β =1.91, 95%C.I: 1.53, 2.29) were factors independently associated with chewing of khat of respondents.

Conclusion and Recommendation: one third of the respondents chewed khat in their life and current time. Health education should be provided to students about the adverse effects of khat by invited psychiatric professionals of Dilla University Referral Hospital. Minister of Education in collaboration with Ministry of Health has to work to incorporate life skill training in high school students’ curricula.

Published Date: 2021-05-18; Received Date: 2021-03-15