Epidemiology of tungiasis in sub-saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Tungiasis is a public health disease in many rural and urban slums in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), primarily affecting children and the elderly. Yet, this disease has received little attention in many sub-Saharan African countries. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the pooled prevalence of tungiasis and associated risk factors in SSA. We searched AJOL, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and PubMed for population-based studies that reported the prevalence of tungiasis and risk factors in SSA between January 1980 and July 2020. The study employed a random-effects model and heterogeneity to estimate the pooled prevalence and evaluate the Cochran’s Q-test respectively across studies that met the inclusion criteria. We screened 104 articles and retrieved 42 full-text articles to evaluate for inclusion in the review. Twenty-seven studies involving 16,303 individuals in seven SSA countries were analyzed. The pooled prevalence of tungiasis in SSA was 33.4% (95% CI: 27.6–39.8), while tungiasis prevalence was 46.5%, 44.9%, 42.0%, 37.2%, 28.1%, 22.7% and 20.1% for Ethiopia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda, respectively. The risk of tungiasis was associated with gender, participants’ age groups (4–15 years and ≥60 years), earthen floor, non-regular use of footwear, contact with animals, and residence in rural areas. An integrated approach addressing significant factors in tungiasis prevalence in SSA needs to be designed and implemented by a trans-disciplinary composition of community leaders, health professionals, non-governmental institutions, and policymakers.

KEYWORDS:

• Human
• meta-analysis
• pooled prevalence
• tungiasis
• sub-saharan Africa

Authors’ contributions

Conceptualisation: OOO and OOA; data acquisition and analysis: OOO and OOA, writing- original draft: OOO and OOA; writing review & editing: OOO and OOA, seeking final approval of the version to be published: OOO, and OOA. The manuscript has been read and accepted by the authors, who agree that the manuscript represents an honest piece of work and that the authorship criteria specified in this paper have been met.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.