Background: Coronavirus disease is a highly transmittable and pathogenic viral infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which poses therapeutic dilemmas. Some suggestions for drug treatment seem problematic. Beliefs about the causes of health problems are determinants of treatment seeking decisions. Hence, one of the alternatives for the solution of health problems is employing traditional medicine to prevent coronavirus disease 19. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and utilization of drugs toward the coronavirus disease 19 pandemic among Bale zone residents. Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among the Bale Zone population from May 30 to June 30, 2020. Eight hundred fifty-four participants were selected using a single population formula, and a multistage sampling technique was employed. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Descriptive and binary logistic regression was used to analyze the outcomes. A p value ⩽ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the total 854 respondents, about 534 (62.5%) got information about coronavirus disease 19 from TV/radio. More than two-thirds (71.9%) of the respondents have known that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has no curative drugs, and 65.4% had a more appropriate attitude toward overall drug use in coronavirus disease 19. Level of education and, attitude towards drug use were singnificantly associated with knowledge of drugs, source of information about coronavirus disease 19 and having good practice were significantly associated with atittude toward drug utilization. Conclusion: One out of two study participants have good knowledge regarding drugs to the coronavirus disease 19 pandemic. Illiterate people in the community were identified to have poor knowledge about drugs, hence community educuation program is important to improve the knowledge about drugs towards the coronavirus disease 19 pandemic.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess voluntary blood donation practice and associated factors among Bale Robe town civil servants in Oromia, Southeast Ethiopia, 2021. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 601 civil servants selected by a stratified systematic random sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was pre-tested on 5% of the total sample size before actual data collection. Data were coded and entered into EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Frequency distribution, descriptive statistics, and diagrams were used to summarize and present data. Binary logistic regression was performed to assess the association between independent variables and voluntary blood donation practice. An adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to identify factors associated with the outcome variables. And p-value < 0.05 was used to declare significance. Result: Of the total of 630 selected civil servants, 601 give a complete response to the questionnaire yielding a response rate of 95%. The mean age of participants was 34.19 years, and 328 (54.6%) of them were rural residents before they joined the governmental work. The lifetime voluntary blood donation practice among civil servants was 27%; 95% confidence interval = (23%–31%). The major reason for not donating blood was fear related to blood donation 186 (42.4%). From multivariable logistic regression, four variables were found as significant independent variables associated with voluntary blood donation practice. Accordingly, having a family member or relative who previously donate blood (adjusted odds ratio = 2.48; 95% confidence interval = (1.39, 4.39)), previous participation in a blood donation campaign (adjusted odds ratio = 5.84; 95% confidence interval = (3.39, 1.04)), and willingness to donate blood (adjusted odds ratio = 5.04; 95% confidence interval = (2.21, 11.48)) were variables significantly and positively associated with voluntary blood donation practice, respectively. Civil servants who had no opportunity to donate blood previously were less likely to give voluntary blood donation (adjusted odds ratio = 0.15 (95% confidence interval = 0.063, 0.367)). Conclusion: The study identified a low level of voluntary blood donation. Having family members/relatives who donate blood, previous participation in a blood donation campaign, and willingness to donate blood were significantly associated with voluntary blood donation. Therefore, there should be regularly scheduled campaigns encouraging civil servants’ voluntary blood donation.

Background Globally, although effective prevention strategies and treatment are available, trachoma remains the major cause of infectious loss of sight. Trachoma is a predominant neglected disease in Ethiopia, and there is a 40.4% prevalence of active trachoma in the Goro district, Southeast Ethiopia. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends azithromycin mass treatment of at least 80% coverage to eliminate trachoma, even though the coverage of azithromycin mass treatment has not been studied yet in depth. Thus, this study aimed to assess the coverage and factors influencing azithromycin mass treatment uptake among adults in Goro district, Southeast Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 1st to April 30th, 2021 among all adults aged 15 years old and above. The multistage sampling technique was used to select 593 study respondents. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. Data were entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 23.0 software. Descriptive analysis and binary logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) along with a 95% confidence interval (CI) and p-value < 0.05 were used to declare the strength and the significance of association, respectively. Results/Principal findings Five hundred and seventy eight study participants with a 97% response rate were included. The proportion of azithromycin mass drug administration coverage was found to be 75.80%; 95% CI: (72%-79%) in this study. Having better knowledge about trachoma (AOR = 2.36; 95% CI: 1.19–4.70), having better knowledge about azithromycin mass treatment (AOR = 4.19; 95% CI: 2.19–7.98), being educated (AOR = 7.20; 95% CI: 1.02–51.09), a campaign conducted at the quiet time (off-harvesting/planting season) (AOR = 6.23; 95% CI: 3.23–11.98), heard about the serious adverse effect from others (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.10–0.59) and being a volunteer to take azithromycin in the next campaign (AOR = 5.46; 95% CI: 2.76–10.79) were significantly associated with azithromycin mass drug administration coverage. Conclusions/Significance The proportion of azithromycin mass treatment coverage of this study was lower than the WHO minimum target coverage. Thus, strengthening awareness, enhancing azithromycin mass trachoma treatment messages, and conducting campaigns off-season outside of harvesting and planting time should be prioritized in the future to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess effect of maternal near miss on neonatal mortality. Methods: Prospective cohort study was conducted on 384 pregnant women who came for delivery to purposely selected hospitals. The cohort was made up of 128 exposed (near miss) mothers and 256 non-exposed (non-near-miss) mothers. Women who came for delivery were only included. Those who came for services other than delivery such as abortion care, women who developed life-threatening condition not related to delivery, and those who come from no phone network area were excluded. A purposive sampling technique was used by including all mothers with near miss consecutively until the required sample size was obtained. Two non-near-miss mothers were selected using lottery for every near-miss mother. Survival analysis was done for both groups using Cox regression to look for effect of maternal near miss on neonatal mortality. Verbal informed consent from study participants was obtained. Results: A total of 354 (118 with near miss and 236 without near miss) women completed the follow-up time, yielding response rate of 92.2%. Of all, 55 (15.5%) of them have previous history of abortion, 44 (12.4%) were admitted to the intensive care unit during delivery, and 22 (6.2%) have history of past delivery of still birth. Severe preeclampsia with intensive care unit admission and severe anemia with transfusion of greater than 2 units of blood were common complications leading to maternal near miss. There were 17 (48 per 1000 live birth) neonatal death at the end of the study, of which 15 occurred among mothers with near miss. Monthly income (adjusted hazard ratio = 998, 95% confidence interval = 0.996–0.999), fetal presentation (adjusted hazard ratio = 6.48, 95% confidence interval = 1.84–22.73), APGAR score (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.746, 95% confidence interval = 0.620–0.898), and being near miss mother (adjusted hazard ratio = 8.40, 95% confidence interval = 1.638–43.118) were significantly affecting neonatal mortality. Conclusion: Maternal near miss and other fetal and general maternal characteristics have effect on occurrence of neonatal mortality. Therefore, due attention should be given to these factors for improvement of neonatal survival.

Objective The objective of this study was to assess risk perception, community myths, and preventive practice towards COVID-19 among community in Southeast Ethiopia, 2020. Methods Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 854 participants selected using a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire adapted from previous literature. Descriptive statistics were done to summarize the variables. A generalized linear model with binary logistic specification was used to identify factors associated with risk perception and practice. Accordingly adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated and those with p-value < 0.05 were considered as significant factors associated with risk perception and practice. Cluster analysis using a linear mixed model was performed to identify factors associated with community myth and those with p-value <0.05 were reported as significant factors associated with community myth. Results All 854 respondents gave their answer yielding 100% response rate. Of these 547 (64.1%) were male, 611 (71.5%) were rural residents, 534 (62.5%) got information about COVID-19 from TV/radio, 591 (69.2%) of them live near health facility, 265 (30.8%) have a history of substance use and 100 (11.7%) have a history of chronic illness, and 415 (48.6%) of them have a high-risk perception, 428 (50.1%) have a wrong myth about COVID-19 and 366 (42.9%) have poor practice respectively. Residence, distances from health facility and myths were significantly associated with risk perception. Occupation, knowledge, and practice were significantly associated with community myths. Also level of education, living near health facilities, having good knowledge and wrong myth were significantly associated with the practice of utilizing COVID-19 preventive respectively. Conclusion The study found high-risk perception, high wrong community myth, and relatively low utilization of available practices towards COVID-19 and factors associated with them.