Substance use and associated factors among Gumuz people in Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, Mandura woreda, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Substance use related health and social problems are on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, substance abuse is one of the most burning public health problems in Ethiopia. Although it has been known that this public health problem is an urgent issue, the real extent and magnitude of substance abuse is not yet properly explored. The purpose of this study was to assess substance use and associated factors among Gumuz people in Mandura Woreda, northwest Ethiopia.

Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted involving 1588 adults, recruited using multi stage stratified simple random sampling technique. The data were collected at the household level by using pre tested Standardized questionnaire of Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), Oslo social support scale and substance use questionnaire. The data was entered and cleaned using Epi Data version 3.1 and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22 statistical package. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were performed to examine the prevalence and predictors of substance use. An Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was computed to determine the level of significance.

Result: The overall life time substance use prevalence in the current study was 25.9% (95% CI = 23.7, 28.0). The three-month prevalence of Alcohol and tobacco use was 48.4 and 15.8% respectively. The three-month prevalence of hazardous alcohol and tobacco use were 25.8 and 7.8% respectively. Able to read and write (AOR = 3.79; 95%CI 2.34-6.15) in educational status and Strong social support (AOR = 0.39; 95%CI 0.27-0.58) were significantly associated with substance use.

Conclusion: High level of substance use was detected in the current study setting. This high prevalence (three-month) of substance use affects the productive age groups which influence on the family and cause the rise of major public health and socio economic problems. The finding informed the need to integrate services for hazardous substance use such as brief intervention at different levels of primary care services in the district. Public health interventions to reduce hazardous substance especially on alcohol and smoking use also need to be initiate.

Keywords: Alcohol drinking; Hazardous substances; Northwest Ethiopia.