ObjectiveThis study intended to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on anxiety and stress among healthcare professionals in Ethiopia.DesignThis study applied a design of systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.Data sourcesEligibility criteria and outcomesObservational studies examining anxiety and stress among healthcare professionals in Ethiopia following COVID-19 pandemic were considered. The primary outcomes were the prevalence of anxiety and stress and the secondary outcomes were factors associated to the prevalence of anxiety and stress.Data extraction and synthesisTwo authors extracted the data and performed quality assessment independently. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the quality of eligible studies. Random-effect model with the inverse variance method was used to estimate the pooled effect size of the outcome variables with its 95% CI. Publication bias was checked by DOI plot and Luis Furuya Kanamori index. Stata V.14.0 (StataCorp) software was used for statistical analysis.ResultsThirteen studies were included. From eight studies the pooled prevalence of anxiety was 46% (95% CI 0.30% to 0.61%, τ2=0.0497, I2=99.07%, p<0.001). Nine studies reported about stress and the pooled prevalence was 51% (95% CI 0.41% to 0.62%, τ2=0.0253, I2=97.85%, p<0.001)). Age, sex, marital status, working department, history of contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases and profession were associated factors for high level of anxiety and stress.ConclusionsCOVID-19 pandemic highly affects mental health of healthcare professionals in Ethiopia. Anxiety and stress were among reported mental health problems among healthcare professionals during the pandemic. Timely psychological counselling programmes should be applied for healthcare professionals to improve the general mental health problems.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42022314865.

Background: Patients with COVID-19 will experience high levels of anxiety and depression and poor levels of sleep and quality of life (QoL) due to isolation treatment and uncertain outcomes. Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) exercises show promising treatment effects on mental health and sleep problems and overall QoL in COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of PMR exercises in patients with COVID-19. Methods: Both experimental and non-experimental studies related to PMR and COVID-19 were systematically searched in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, PEDro and HINARI databases for studies published from the occurrence of the pandemic to December 2022. Study selection, methodological quality assessment and data extraction were carried out by 2 independent authors. Efficacy outcomes were evaluated for sleep quality, anxiety, depression, and QoL. The safety outcomes were evaluated based on adverse events reported. Review manager (RevMan 5.4, Cochrane collaboration) was used for the data analysis. Results: Four studies with 227 subjects were included in this systematic review. The pooled results indicated that PMR interventions improved the sleep quality score standardized mean difference (SMD): −0.23; 95% confidence interval (CI): −0.54, 0.07; P = .13, level of anxiety SMD: −1.35; 95% CI −2.38, −0.32; P = .01 compared to the usual care. Depression level, disease severity and QoL were also improved following PMR interventions. Only 1 study reported worsening of 1 patient clinical status while all other studies did not report any adverse events during the interventions. Conclusions: PMR interventions can improve the sleep quality, anxiety, depression, disease severity and QoL in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 in a short-term period compared to the usual care. However, there was indecision about the safety and long-term effects of PMR.

Abstract Background: Globally, 52 million children of age under five years were affected by acute malnutrition from which 17 million were severely wasted. In Ethiopia every month over 25,000 children with severe acute malnutrition are admitted to hospitals, if not identified early and treated properly, these children could die. Therefore this study aimed to assess the determinants of time to death of under-five children with SAM admitted to inpatient therapeutic feeding center in Woldia General Hospital.   Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. The study population were children with severe acute malnutrition aged from 0 to 59 months who have been admitted to woldia general hospital from September 2017 to August 2019.The sample was 150 that fulfils the inclusion criteria were included. Non parametric survival analysis was used to estimate survival time to death and Cox PH model was carried out to determine independent predictors.   Results: The accounted proportion of death of under-five children in the study period was 10%. And the estimated mean survival time of the patient was 4.48 weeks. Both estimates was almost on the recommended Sphere standard which should < 10% and <4 weeks respectively. In the estimated model HR for age groups (24-35 months) is 0.000 with 95% CI [0.000-4.591], wasting  is 0.010 with 95% CI [0.000-0.065], referred from is 0.000 with 95% CI [0.000-0.061], cough 133.04 with 95% CI [3.596-4922.83], HIV is 1209.61 with 95% CI [1.137-1286998.42], Iv antibiotic treatment is 0.000 with 95% CI [0.000-0.037] and amoxicillin is 0.001 with 95% CI [0.000-0.736] were significant predictors for time to death of under-five children with SAM.   Conclusions: From the fitted model, age of the children, admission criteria, children referred from,cough, HIV, IV antibiotic treatment and Amoxicillin are the covariates that have significant effect on time to death of under five children by SAM at 5% level of significance. Early identifying cases and giving special attention for children with co morbidities such as HIV and cough is vital for decrease child mortality Ethiopia.    Keywords: Severe acute malnutrition, inpatient, semi parametric, non parametric, death

IntroductionCOVID-19 pandemic is a global health problem. In Africa, healthcare professionals face mental health problems due to COVID-19. But little was done on the prevalence of mental disorders among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 in Africa. This umbrella review of meta-analysis aimed to provide the pooled prevalence of anxiety, depression, stress, suicide, demoralisation and insomnia during COVID-19 pandemic in Africa.Methods and analysisWe will search the African Journals Online, MedRxiv, PubMed and Google Scholar to identify studies published from the occurrence of the pandemic to March 2023. Systematic review and meta-analysis studies assessing mental health problems among healthcare professionals in Africa will be considered. The outcomes of interest include prevalence of mental health problems on healthcare professionals following COVID-19. Two researchers will extract data and execute quality assessment independently. The Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist will be used to assess the quality of studies. Stata V.16.0 software will be used for statistical analysis. The I² and Cochran’s Q-statistics will be used for analysis of heterogeneity. Publication bias will be examined by DOI plot and Luis Furuya Kanamori (LFK) index.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval and informed consent are not required as this is a literature review. The final results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at relevant conferences.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42022383939.

Introduction Healthcare professionals play a great role in the struggle against COVID-19. They are highly susceptible to COVID-19 due to their responsibilities. This susceptibility directly affects their mental health status. Comprehensive evidence on prevalence of depression and insomnia during this pandemic is vital. Thus, this study aims to provide the pooled prevalence of depression and insomnia, and their associated factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods This systematic review and meta-analysis follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Studies were searched from PubMed, Cochrane Library, CrossRef, African Journals Online and Google Scholar databases from the occurence of the pandemic to June 2022. Study selection, data extraction and methodological quality assessment were done by two authors independently. The I2 statistics was used for testing heterogeneity. A random effect model was used. Stata version 16.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results Eight studies were incorporated for this systematic review and meta-analysis. From seven studies the pooled prevalence of depression was 40% (95% CI [0.23–0.57]; I2 = 99.00%; P = 0.00). From three studies the pooled prevalence of insomnia was 35% (95% CI [0.13–0.58]; I2 = 98.20; P = 0.00). Associated factors of depression on healthcare workers (HCWs) were being female pooled AOR: 2.09; 95% CI [1.41–2.76], been married (pooled AOR = 2.95; 95% CI [1.83–4.07]). Due to limited studies available on the factors associated with insomnia, it is impossible to pool and associated factors were presented in narrative synthesis. Conclusion COVID-19 is highly associated with the prevalence of depression and insomnia among healthcare professionals in Ethiopia. The pooled prevalence of depression and insomnia were significantly higher among healthcare professionals. Appropriate psychological counseling package should be realized for healthcare workers (HCWs) in order to recover the general mental health problems. Trial registration. This review was registered PROSPERO with registration number CRD42022314865.