Open defecation practice and its determinants among households in sub-Saharan Africa: pooled prevalence and multilevel analysis of 33 sub-Saharan Africa countries demographic and health survey

Background Open defecation facilitates the transmission of pathogens that cause diarrheal diseases, which is the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease. It also exposed hundreds of millions of girls and women around the world to increased sexual exploitation. Open defecation is more practice in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and is considered an indicator of low socioeconomic status. However, there is little evidence on the pooled prevalence and factors contributing to open defecation practice among households in SSA. Objectives This study aimed to assess the pooled prevalence, wealth-related inequalities, and other determinants of open defecation practice among households in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods Demographic and Health Survey data sets of 33 SSA countries with a total sample of 452,281 households were used for this study. Data were weighted, cleaned, and analyzed using STATA 14 software. Meta analyses were used to determine the pooled prevalence of open defecation practice among households in SSA. Multilevel analysis was employed to identify factors contributing to open defecation practice among households in SSA. Moreover, concentration index and graph were used to assess wealth-related inequalities of open defecation practice. The associations between dependent and independent variables were presented using adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals with a p value of < 0.05. Results The pooled prevalence of open defecation practice among households in sub-Saharan African countries was 22.55% (95%CI: 17.49%, 27.61%) with I-2 = 99.9% and ranges from 0.81% in Comoros to 72.75% in Niger. Individual level factors, such as age, educational attainment, media exposure, wealth status, and access to drinking water, as well community level factors, such as residence, country income status, and region in SSA, had a significant association with open defecation practice. The concentration index value [C = - 0.55; 95% CI: - 0.54, - 0.56] showed that open defecation practice was significantly disproportionately concentrated on the poor households (pro-poor distribution). Conclusions Open defecation practice remains a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Individual level factors, such as age, educational attainment, media exposure, household wealth status, and access to drinking water had an association with open defecation practice. Moreover, community level factors such as residence, country income status and region in SSA have a significant effect on open defecation. There is a significantly disproportional pro-poor distribution of open defecation practice in SSA. Each country should prioritize eliminating open defecation practices that focused poorest communities, rural societies, and limited water access areas. Media exposure and education should be strengthened. Moreover, public health interventions should target to narrow the poor-rich gap in the open defecation practice among households including provisions of subsidies to the poor. Policymakers and program planners better use this evidence as preliminary evidence to plan and decide accordingly.