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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Trop. Dis.
Sec. Neglected Tropical Diseases
Volume 6 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fitd.2025.1532049
This article is part of the Research Topic Preventing and Controlling Tropical Infectious Diseases: Lessons from the Global South View all 4 articles
Prevalence and Risk Factors of cutaneous leishmaniasis in East Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted- 1 Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
- 2 PhD student at Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected skin disease that affects millions of people throughout worldwide. Its visible symptoms and impact on physical appearance can lead cutaneous leishmaniasis patients to social rejection, stigma, and discrimination. It is a public health and social problem in East Africa. However, there was no conclusive evidence about the pooled prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in East Africa. Thus, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to dig out current evidence about burden of cutaneous leishmaniasis in East Africa.The main purpose of this study was to estimate the pooled prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis and its risk factors in East Africa.The systematic review and meta-analysis was established by using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The systematic review and metaanalysis were done with Stata software version 17. Forest plot with random-effect model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of CL with 95% confidence interval and heterogeneity of articles respectively.Result: A total of 221,365 study participants were included in the review. Based on the result, the forest plot explained by I 2 = 99.99% at p < 0.05. The prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in a primary study ranged from 0.73 % to 79.10%. The pooled prevalence of CL in East Africa was found to be 22.57% with 95% CI (14.36, 30.78). The effect size showed that a statistically significant subgroup effect for study design, study setting, sample size, clinical forms of CL, publication year and study period at p < 0.05 according to the subgroup analysis.The pooled prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in East Africa was High. This pooled prevalence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in East Africa underscores the urgent need for targeted public health initiatives to mitigate the impact of this disease on affected populations. Collaborative efforts among governments, health organizations, and communities are crucial for effective management and control of CL in the East Africa region.
Keywords: cutaneous leishmaniasis, heterogeneity, subgroup, prevalence and factors, Cutaneous leishm, Heterogeneites, Prevalence, meta analysis
Received: 21 Nov 2024; Accepted: 05 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ahmed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mohammedjud Hassen Ahmed, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
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