Prevalence of Scabies Among Children in Charitable Children’s Institutions in Nairobi County

Abstract

Introduction: Human scabies is an ectoparasitic skin infection caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei var hominis. It is one of the most common skin infections in resource-poor countries. Scabies was responsible for 0.21% of DALYs from all diseases researched by GBD 2015 worldwide with 37.5% of those affected being the pediatric population. It is estimated that there are 2.6 million orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in Kenya today (5), most of whom live in children’s homes. This proposal aimed to determine the prevalence of scabies among children and the knowledge about scabies of the managers in Charitable Children’s institutions. The data obtained from this study can be used to plan appropriate intervention measures. Objective: This study’s objectives were to determine the prevalence of scabies among children in CCIs in Nairobi County and to evaluate the knowledge level of CCI managers about scabies. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study. It was quantitative survey of the prevalence of scabies among children aged between 6 months and 18 years in 10 selected CCIs from 2 sub-counties in Nairobi County. We also assessed the knowledge of all the 10 managers from the selected CCIs on scabies. Data analysis: Data was entered into MS Excel and transferred into SPSS version 26. Descriptive summary statistics were analyzed and presented as means or medians for continuous variables and frequencies for categorical variables. The proportion of children with scabies in the CCIs was determined and presented as a percentage with the corresponding 95% confidence interval. Univariate and multivariate analysis for factors associated with scabies were analysed. The Knowledge of CCI managers was analyzed as frequencies and presented as tables. Results: The prevalence of scabies in this study was 6.4% ( 95% CI, 4.1-9.9) with cases reported in 7 out the 10 CCIs studied. Majority of cases were reported among males (66.7%) and in the age group 6-12 years at 72 %. Ninety percent of the CCI managers had good knowledge about scabies while 1(10.0%) had fair knowledge.The study revealed a significant association between scabies and sleeping with a child with an itchy skin (AOR ,95% CI , 8.1, 2.5 – 26.5, p=0.001) Conclusion: The prevalence of scabies among children in the selected CCIs within Nairobi County was low. CCI managers had good knowledge on the prevention and management of scabies. There was a significant association between scabies and sleeping with a child with an itchy skin