Introduction: The greatest gap in new-born care is often during the critical first week of life when most neonatal and maternal deaths often occur at home and without any contact with the formal health sector. Some unacceptable practices such as unskilled attendants during delivery, unhygienic delivery practices, taboos and superstitions associated with caring for the new-born greatly affect new-born survival in Ethiopia.

Background. A lot of effort is being done in the electronic medical record (EMR) system. However, it has not been implemented and used at the expected scale for maximal effectiveness. There is limited evidence on the factors affecting the utilization of EMR in this particular context, which are critical for targeted strategies. Objective. To assess the magnitude and factors affecting the utilization of EMR among health professionals in eastern Ethiopia. Methods. An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 412 health professionals from Harari and Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia, using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. The tool was developed from previous literature, and a pilot survey was done before the actual study. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression were done to assess the relationship between an independent variable with EMR use. Crude and an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval were reported. A P value of less than 0.05 was used to declare a statistically significant association. Results. A total of 412 health professionals with a mean age of 29 years (±6.4 years) were included. A total of 229 (55.6%) and 300 (72.8%) of them had good knowledge and attitude towards the EMR, while 279 (67.7%) used the service (54% used it on a daily basis). About 272 (66%) of the respondents reported that they prefer EMRs to paper-based systems. Health professionals with more than five years of experience had two times higher odds of using the service ( AOR = 2.22 ; 95% CI; 1.12-4.42) than early-career workers. Health professionals trained in EMR would use the service more ( AOR = 5.88 ; 95% CI; 2.93-11.88) compared to those who did not take the training. In addition, having good knowledge ( AOR = 1.52 ; 95% CI; 0.92-1.5) and a good attitude towards the EMR system ( AOR = 2.4 ; 95% CI; 1.35-4.31) showed to use EMR as compared to counterparts. Conclusions. The utilization of EMR was found to be optimal. Age, work experience, knowledge, attitude, and training of professionals were positively associated with the use of the service in their facility.

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Background: Improved health care and rising life expectancy are creating a growing pool of old age people all over the world, including Africa. Malnutrition in the old age people is associated with both short- and long-term negative health outcomes. However, the reported burdens of malnutrition are fragmented and inconsistent, where more compiled evidence is warranted to aid decision-makers. Hence, this paper is aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of malnutrition among old age people in Africa.Methods: A systematic search for research reporting the prevalence of malnutrition among old age people (aged above 60 years) was conducted from HINARI/PubMed and Google Scholar databases using combination keywords. Published articles in English language starting from January 2000 to October 2021 were screened. We presented the results based on the standard for reporting systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. A random-effect meta-analysis was done to estimate the prevalence of malnutrition along with the 95% confidence intervals. The publication bias was assessed using the funnel plot.Results: A total of 1,442 studies were retrieved based on the search strategy, where only 36 studies (n = 15,266 participants) reported from 11 African countries were included for meta-analysis. The reported prevalence of malnutrition ranges from 2.2 to 77.3% across Africa. Overall, the pooled prevalence of malnutrition was 18% (95% CI: 15-22; I2 = 98.1; p < 0.001). The prevalence is higher in the Central Africa (3.8%; 95% CI: 3.2-4.4), in the community (3.1%; 95% CI: 2.7-3.7), and among advanced age (3.5%; 95% CI: 2.3-5.4).Conclusion: The prevalence of malnutrition in African old age people is high and differs by setting, assessment tool, and country of residence. Hence, due attention to geriatric nutrition is mandatory, and the need for a valid, reliable, and simple screening tool should be thought of.

Introduction:The nutritional status of old age people is frequently overlooked in many lowincome countries, like Ethiopia, although appropriate nutritional assessment improves their health. The Mini Nutritional Assessment tool has multiple versions with confirmed validity in diverse languages but not in Amharic. Thus, this study aimed to translate Mini Nutritional Assessment tool into the Amharic language and validate it among old age people in Bahir Dar City. Materials and Methods: The study was cross-sectional and conducted in three stepwise phases from January 16 to March 13, 2021. A total of 10 experts and 180 communitydwelling old age people were respectively selected in heterogeneous purposive sampling and multistage cluster sampling from Bahir Dar City. Principal component analysis was used to measure construct validity while Cronbach's alpha was employed to assess internal consistency reliability. Results: As experts reviewed, all items in the translated tool are socially acceptable and have no taboo or sensitive words. The translated tool's item content validity ranged from 0.60 to 1.00 and its content validity ratio was 0.93. Moreover, the construct validity of the tool was confirmed with factor loadings ranging from 0.47 to 0.89 with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.65. The tool had a sensitivity and specificity of 97% and 83%, respectively. Conclusion: The Amharic version of the Mini Nutritional Assessment tool showed good cross-cultural adaption, internal consistency reliability, and construct validity in Bahir Dar community-dwelling old age people. The tool can be used in regular care activities for aged people.

ObjectiveTo summarise available evidence and estimate the pooled prevalence of malnutrition among old people in Africa.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.SettingAny healthcare or community research reporting the prevalence or incidence of malnutrition in Africa from January 2000 to October 2021.ParticipantsOld people, aged above 60 years.Outcome measuresMalnutrition, either undernutrition or overnutrition.ResultsA total of 1442 studies were retrieved based on the search strategy, where only 36 studies (n=15 266 participants) reported from 11 African countries were included for meta-analysis. The reported prevalence of malnutrition ranges from 2.2% to 77.3% across the continent. Overall, the pooled prevalence rates of undernutrition and overnutrition were 18% (95% CI: 15% to 22%; I2=98.1; p<0.001) and 33% (95% CI: 22% to 44%; p<0. 001), respectively.ConclusionThe prevalence of malnutrition in old African people is high and differs by setting, assessment tool and country of residence. Hence, due attention to geriatric nutrition is mandatory, and the need for a valid, reliable and simple screening tool should be thought of.

Background: A valid and reliable quality of life (QOL) assessment tool is critical for identifying health issues, evaluating health interventions, and establishing the best health policies and care plans. One of the tools for this goal is the World Health Organization's Quality of Life Old module (WHOQOL-OLD). It is validated and available in more than 20 languages globally, except Amharic (the widely spoken language in Ethiopia). As a result, the purpose of this study was to translate it into Amharic language and validate it among the elderly people in Bahir Dar City, Northwestern Ethiopia.   Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 180 community-dwelling old age people in Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia, from January 16 to March 13, 2021. Psychometric validation was achieved through Cronbach’s alpha of the internal consistency reliability test and construct validity from confirmatory factor analysis.   Results: The study participants were aged between 60 and 90 years, with a mean age of 69.44. Females made up 61.7% of the study population, and 40% of them could not read or write. The results showed a relatively low level of quality of life, with a total transformed score of 58.58±23.15. The Amharic version of the WHOQOL-OLD showed a Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.96 and corrected item-total correlations of more than 0.74. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the six-domain model with a chi-square (X2) of 341.98 and a p-value less than 0.001. The comparative fit index (CFI) was 0.98, Tucker-Lewis’s index (TCL) was 0.97, and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.046.   Conclusion: The Amharic version of the WHOQOL-OLD indicated good internal consistency reliability and construct validity. The tool can be utilized to provide care to Ethiopian community-dwelling old age people.