Abstract            Volume:8  Issue-4  Year-2020         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

Health extension program (HEP) is an innovative community-based strategy to deliver preventive and promotive services. It brings community participation through the creation of behavioral change. It also improves the utilization of health services by bridging the gap between the community and health facilities. Although in Addis Ababa the urban health extension program was started in 2009, there are only limited studies on the program implementation and its expected benefits. This study aims to assess knowledge, attitude and participation level of households towards health extension programs and associated factors in Nefas Silk Lafto Sub-city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Community-based cross-sectional study design was used with the sample size of 423 households that were included by using a systematic sampling method. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data. Frequencies, proportions, and logistic regression were used for the description of the study population, to determine dependent and independent variables association strength and the relative effect of independent variables on dependent variables. Participation level of households in health extension program was 42% (95% C.I= 0.37-0.47). The positive attitude towards HEP of households (HHs); satisfaction on HEP services; communication skill of urban health extension professionals (UHEPs); believing UHEPs skillful and believing they able to teach reasonably were associated with participation level of households in HEP [AOR (95% C.I): 2.15(1.62-11.54), 1.08(1.32-9.38), 2.78(1.09-18.06), and 2.67(1.01-7.09)] respectively. The participation level of households in the health extension program is low. The participation level is associated with attitude on the change HEP implementation brought; satisfaction on HEP services; believing UHEPs skillful and believing them able to teach reasonably. Strong advocacy on HEP and continuous improvement of UHEPs capacity are important.

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