Introduction In Ethiopia, more than four million children are anticipated to live under particularly difficult circumstances. Street children are subject to violence, a lack of health care, and a lack of education. Which denies them the right to live in a secure environment and exposes them to different health problems. Currently, little is known about the prevalence of Streetism, including health conditions. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the health status of street children and determinants of Streetism. Methods Mixed methods (sequential) were employed from February 1 to 28, 2021. Quantitative cross-sectional study design and phenomenological qualitative designs were applied. Overall, 220 street children were involved in the study. The most common reason that forced the children to resort to a street way of life is to look for a job and quarreled with parents. The data were collected using interviews methods. Chi-square test and multiple binary logistic regression were applied to examine the variations among variables with the health status of street children. Qualitative data were analyzed using the thematic analysis technique. Results The study included a total of 220 street children. As to the quantitative study, the majority of study participants (92.73%) drank alcohol regularly. Depression (39.22%) and peer pressure (43.14%) were the most common initiation causes of drinking alcohol. According to a qualitative study report, "Street children are mostly affected by the communicable disease” and… They are addicted to substances like benzene” which had a profound effect on their health.” Furthermore, the study discovered a statistically significant association between respondents’ health status and sociodemographic characteristics (age and educational status), job presence, and drug use. Conclusion This study identified the factors that drove street children to live on the streets, such as the inability to find work and disagreements with their parents. The majority of the street children were affected by preventable and treatable diseases. Unfortunately, almost all street children reported drinking alcohol, which exposed them to a variety of health problems. In general, the study discovered that street children require immediate attention. Decision-makers and academicians should collaborate to develop a plan for these children’s health and social interventions.

Background: COVID-19 brought significant challenges to public health. It changed the view of global health and safety, trust in the healthcare system, and clients’ willingness to seek healthcare. To contain the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and its detrimental effects, understanding peoples’ health behavior, especially healthcare-seeking, and determining the community risk perception is very important. Thus, this study aimed to determine the health-seeking behavior, community’s risk perception to COVID-19 pandemics, and factors influencing the community risk perception in Harari regional state, Ethiopia. Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 5 to 30 February 2021. A total of 1320 adult (>18 years) participants were selected using systematic random sampling. The data were collected using an online kobo collect toolbox and analyzed using descriptive statistical tests. Chi-square test and multiple binary logistic regression were applied to examine the difference between variables. A p-value < 0.05 was considered to be of statistical significance. Results: The study included 1296 respondents >18 years old. The overall prevalence of willingness to seek healthcare in the study area was 35.6% (95% CI: 33%–38.3.0%). The mean cumulative score of risk perception was 30.5 (SD ± 7.25) with the minimum and maximum score of 13 and 63, respectively. A total of 656 (50.6%) of the participants had low-risk perceptions concerning COVID-19. The study found a statistically significant association between risk perception and sociodemographic characteristics (age, educational status, and income), and knowledge of the respondents. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of willingness to seek healthcare was 35.6%. Healthcare intervention aimed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic should consider the factors associated with the study area. Similarly, the study found a low-risk perception among the community that needs critical action to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect the community as a whole. Thus, it is necessary to improve community risk perception through health education.

BackgroundPsychoactive substance use becomes a major public health and socioeconomic problem worldwide. Despite its burden and consequences, there is no community-based study conducted on psychoactive substance use and associated factors in eastern Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the magnitude and determinants of current alcohol, tobacco, and khat among adults living in Harari regional state, eastern Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 955 adults living in Harari regional state. Participants were randomly recruited using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected by interviewer-administered structured and semi-structured questionnaires. Data were entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and exported to Stata version 14.0 for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between the outcome and independent variables, and the statistical significance was declared at a p &lt; 0.5.ResultsOf 955 eligible participants, 95.29% participated in the study. The overall prevalence of current alcohol use, tobacco use, and khat use in this study was 8.24, 14.5, and 63.30%, respectively. The availability of alcohol, being unemployed, and being a current khat user were significantly associated with current alcohol use. Being male, having a low level of education, having peer pressure, having a common mental disorder, being a current alcohol user, and being a khat user were identified as significant predictors for current tobacco use. The age between 31 and 40 years, being a Muslim religion follower, being a farmer, being a current tobacco user, and availability of khat were significantly associated with current khat use.Conclusion and recommendationsThe prevalence of psychoactive substance use in the study area was relatively high compared with that of previous studies. By considering these determinants, screening, early identification, and developing appropriate intervention strategies to prevent and tackle current alcohol, tobacco, and khat use in the community should be of great concern.

Background Hypertensive crisis is a significant global health issue that raises the costs to healthcare systems and requires specific attention to improve clinical outcome. There is scarce information on hypertensive crisis cases treatment outcome in the study setting. Objective This study aimed to assess treatment outcome and associated factors among patients admitted with hypertensive crisis at Public Hospitals in Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 369 hypertensive crisis patients who had been admitted to the emergency department of Hiwot Fana Comprehensive Specialized Hospital and Jugol General Hospital from May 1, 2017, to May 1, 2022. All hypertensive crisis patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included. The data were extracted from medical records using a data abstraction format. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22. Binary logistics regression model using bivariate and multivariable analysis with 95% confidence intervals and P -values were used to determine the association between variables. Results The medical records of 369 patients in total were reviewed. Of these, the medical records of 363 patients contained all the necessary information and were used in the study. More than half of the patients (238; 65.6%) were males. Among 363 patients admitted with hypertensive crisis, 98 (27.0%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI):22.5%-31.9%) of them had poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis. Being female (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR)=3.4; 95% CI=1.7−7.9), residing in rural areas (AOR=2.4; 95% CI=2.7−5.1), taking captopril during admission (AOR=5.6; 95% CI=2.4−7.9), taking antihypertensive treatment before admission (AOR=0.5; 95% CI=0.2−0.9), and being non compliant to treatment (AOR=2.7; 95% CI=1.4−3.5) had statistically significant associations with poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis compared to their counterparts. Conclusion The magnitude of poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis was high. Sex, residence, non-compliance, and type of emergency drug administered during admission were substantially related with poor treatment outcome of hypertensive crisis. Health professionals should put great emphasis on emergency drugs administered during admission to achieve the desired outcome.

BackgroundCommon mental disorders are highly prevalent in the population, affecting people across all regions of the world. In Ethiopia, mental disorders are the leading non-communicable disorders. World Health Organization (WHO) report shows that 4,480,113 (4.7%) and 3,139,003 (3.3%) people in Ethiopia are estimated to suffer from depression and anxiety, respectively. However, there are only limited studies conducted on common mental disorders in Africa including Ethiopia. Even if there was a previous study conducted among Harari regional state residents 7 years back, nowadays there are many possible factors that could increase the prevalence of common mental disorders in the community like the novel coronavirus pandemic, ethnic war, and current socio-economic crises in Ethiopia.ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of common mental disorders and associated factors among adult residents of Harari regional state, eastern Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 1 to March 30, 2022. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select 1,192 study participants. Data were collected by interviewer-administered structured and semi-structured questionnaires. A common mental disorder was assessed by the Self-Reporting Questionnaire of 20-Item (SRQ-20) questionnaire. Data were entered into Epi Data version 3.2 and exported to Stata Version 16 for analysis. The multivariable binary logistic regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval and p &lt; 0.05 was used to identify factors associated with common mental disorders.ResultFrom a total of 1,192 eligible participants, 1,168 responded to this survey, giving a response rate of 97.98%. The prevalence of common mental disorders among adults in the Harari Region of this study was 21.31% (95% CI, 18.8–23.60). Being female with Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR = 1.31, 95%CI, 1.09–2.09), single (AOR = 2.03, 95%CI, 1.37–3.01), divorced (AOR = 3.06, 95%CI, 1.97–4.76), widowed (AOR = 1.79, 95%CI, 1.23–3.26), unemployed (AOR = 1.97, 95%CI, 1.18–3.31), having family history of mental illness (AOR = 3.17, 95%CI, 1.54–6.96) and age greater or equal to 55 years (AOR = 105, 95%CI, 1.69–3.54) were statistically associated with common mental disorders.ConclusionThe prevalence of common mental disorder in the study area was sharply increased. Being female, single, divorced, widowed, family history of mental illness, being unemployed and age greater or equal to 55 years old were statistically positively associated with common mental disorder. Considering these determinants, screening, early identification, and providing appropriate intervention for common mental disorders in the community should be of great concern.