Introduction: Cervical cancer is preventable and, in most cases, curable if identified at an early stage. Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality Ethiopia with screening accounting for only 0.8%. Furthermore, female students and young adults in colleges and universities’ have a high prevalence of genital HPV infection because of their risky sexual behavior, lack of knowledge on screening and very few students receive screening services. This study aimed to assess the Knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward cervical cancer screening and its associated factors among female college students in Dire Dawa City, Ethiopia. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a multistage sampling technique from November to December 2020, among 730 female college students in Dire Dawa. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to describe each variable and identify associations between the dependent and independent variables respectively. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval and P-value <.05 used to determine the association. Results: The results showed, only 64 (9.3%) participants were knowledgeable, 413 (60.1%) had positive attitudes and 17 (2.5%) were screened in their lifetime. Age group, years of study, and history of cervical cancer practice were significantly associated with knowledge of cervical cancer screening. The year of study was based on cervical cancer smears and the number of screenings was significantly associated with attitude. Conclusion: This study showed that students’ knowledge of cervical cancer screening is low. Overall attitudes toward cervical cancer screening among female students were good, but only a small proportion of students had undergone cervical cancer screening. The most common reasons for the low screening practice were lack of information and undecided. There is a need to promote different campaigns for cervical cancer screening programs, in order to increase awareness.

BackgroundDietary pattern analysis is a robust statistical procedure that efficiently characterize the dietary intakes of individuals. However, there is a lack of robust dietary intake evidence beyond nutrient intake in Ethiopia. This study was to answer, what are the major dietary consumption patterns and its predictors among pregnant women in Ethiopia.MethodsA facility-based survey among 380 randomly selected pregnant women using a contextualized food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) over 1 month recall was used. The frequency of food consumption was standardized to daily frequency equivalents, and a sequential exploratory factor analysis was used to derive major dietary patterns. A multivariable ordinary logistic regression model was fitted with all its assumptions.ResultsThree major dietary patterns (“fruits and animal-source foods,” “cereals, tubers, and sweet foods,” “legumes and vegetables”), explaining 65% of the total variation were identified. Women snacks (AOR = 1.93; 1.23–2.75), without food aversion (AOR = 1.59; 1.08–2.35), non-fasting (AOR = 0.75; 1.12–2.12), and receiving nutritional counseling (AOR = 1.96; 1.25–3.07) were significantly positively associated with a higher tercile of fruits and animal-source food consumption. Non-working mothers (AOR = 1.8;1.23–2.76), chronic disease (AOR = 1.88; 1.14–3.09), or received nutritional counseling (AOR = 1.33; 0.88–2.01), were fasting (AOR = 1.33;0.88–2.01), and no food cravings (AOR = 4.27;2.67–6.84), and aversion (AOR = 1.60;1.04–2.44) had significantly higher odds of consuming cereals, tubers, and sweet foods. Literacy (AOR = 1.87; 1.14–3.09), urban residence (AOR = 2.10; 1.10–3.93), low socioeconomic class (AOR = 2.68; 1.30–5.23), and skipping meals (AOR = 1.73; 1.15–2.62) were associated with higher odds of legume and vegetable consumption.ConclusionSocioeconomic class, literacy, occupation, getting nutritional counseling, habits of food craving, food aversion, and fasting can predict a woman’s dietary pattern.

Background: Indigenous herbal medicine use during pregnancy is a common phenomenon worldwide, particularly in low resource countries like Ethiopia, mainly due to their cost, perceived efficiency in treatment, and ease of access. But so far, studies across Ethiopia are variable and inconsistent and in the study area. Therefore, this study was aimed at assessing indigenous herbal medicine use and its associated factors among pregnant women. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted in public health facilities in the Dire Dawa Administration, eastern Ethiopia, from October 10 to November 10, 2022, among pregnant women selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a pre-tested structured questionnaire, and data were entered and cleaned by Epi DATA (Version 3.1) and analyzed using SPSS (Version 22). A P-value < 0.25 at bivariate to select variables for multivariate and ≤ 0.05 at multivariate with 95% confidence intervals was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 628 participants were included, yielding a response rate of 95.15 %. During their current pregnancy, 47.8% (95% CI: 43.8–51.6%) pregnant women used indigenous herbal medicine(IHMs). The predictors were education level: no formal education (AOR: 5.47, 95%CI: 2.40-12.46), primary level (AOR: 4.74, 95%CI: 2.15-10.44), rural residence (AOR: 2.54, 95%CI: 1.71-3.77), being a housewife (AOR: 4.15, 95%CI: 1.83-9.37), number of antenatal care visits (AOR: 2.58, 95%CI: 1.27-5.25), and knowledge of IHMs (AOR: 4.58, 95% CI: 3.02-6.97). Conclusion: The use of indigenous herbal medicine during pregnancy was as common and widespread as other research done in different areas. The predictors were residence, education level, occupation, number of antenatal care visits, and knowledge. The most commonly used herbal medicines were Lepidium sativum, Vernonia amygdalina, Moringa oleifera, Linum usitatissimum, Zingiber officinale, Eucalyptusglobulus, and Trigonella foenum-graecum. The most common indications were related to gastro-intestinal problems: intestinal parasites, nausea and vomiting, constipation, stomach aches, indigestion, and abdominal cramps. It was recommended that, considering their residence and education level, pregnant women during their ANC visits be made aware of the potential benefits and risks of indigenous herbal medicine, and that more research be conducted to confirm their efficacy and safety during pregnancy.

Introduction: Puerperal sepsis is an infection of the genital tract occurring at any time from 2 to 42 days of puerperium. Maternal sepsis was responsible for 10.7% of the 295,000 maternal deaths worldwide. Various efforts are undertaken, but its burden remains as the third cause of maternal mortality in developing countries, including Ethiopia. However, there is a scarcity of data on determinants of puerperal sepsis in Ethiopia generally and not in the study area particularly. Objective: This study aimed to assess determinants of puerperal sepsis among postpartum women admitted to public and private hospitals in Dire Dawa city administration from September to October 2022. Methodology: A hospital-based unmatched-case control study was used among 600 postpartum women (150 cases and 450 controls). Cases (postpartum women with puerperal sepsis) and controls (postpartum women without puerperal sepsis) were selected by a systematic sampling technique. Data was collected using an interviewer-guided structured questionnaire and medical record review. The data was entered and cleaned by EPI DATA (Version 3.1) and analyzed using SPSS (Version 22) software. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression, as well as odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals, were used to examine the effect of each independent variable on the outcome variable, and a P-value of 0.20 for transferring to multivariable analysis and a P-value of 0.05 for multivariable analysis were considered statistically significant. Results: The determinants of puerperal sepsis were housewives (AOR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.13-4.45), merchants (AOR = 2.98, 95% CI: 1.47-6.03), rural residence (AOR = 3.97, 95% CI: 2.34-6.74), home deliveries (AOR = 2.61, 95% CI: 1.02-6.70), cesarean deliveries (AOR = 2.40, 95% CI: 1.43-3.99), vaginal examinations (AOR = 3.50, 95% CI: 1.50-8.20), and prolonged rupture of membranes (AOR=1.91, 95%CI: 1.02-3.60) Conclusion and recommendation: The majority of determinants of puerperal sepsis were related to obstetrics, along with occupation and residence. As a result, interventions involving coordinated and combined efforts to improve institutional delivery and use standard procedures during the labor and delivery process might take these factors into account.