Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Worldwide, pneumonia was responsible for about 740,180 deaths in children under 5 year, accounting for 14% of all deaths in 2019. The purpose of this study was to identify associated risk factors of community acquired pneumonia among 2-59 months old children in Awi Zone, Northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to July 2023, using a multistage sampling method to select 1368 participants. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Multilevel analysis was used to identify factors associated with community-acquired pneumonia. Variables with p-value < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: The prevalence of community acquired pneumonia among 2-59 months old was 11.33%. Primary education (AOR = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.12, 0.95), stunting (AOR = 6.12; 95% CI: 2.41, 15.51), having diarrhea (AOR = 5.04; 95% CI: 2.41, 10.55), history of acute lower respiratory tract infection (AOR = 20.84; 95% CI: 3.95, 109.83), use of charcoal as fuel source (AOR = 130.56, 95% CI: 5.94, 2869.18), carrying of a child on mother during cooking (AOR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.10, 4.69), and presence of separate kitchen (AOR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.19, 0.74) were associated with community acquired pneumonia. CONCLUSION: Mother education, age of child, stunting, presence of separate kitchen, previous respiratory tract infection, use of charcoal for fuel source, carrying of a child on mother during cooking, and history of diarrhea showed a significant association with community acquired pneumonia. Therefore, we recommend adequate health education on nutrition, diarrhea prevention and treatment, and reducing indoor air pollution to reduce the risk of community-acquired pneumonia.