Background Despite the implementation of different COVID-19 prevention measures, the incidence of the disease continues to rise. Hence, vaccines have been taken as the best option for controlling the transmission of the disease. Although the approved COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be safe and effective, multiple beliefs and misconceptions still exist influencing its acceptance. Objective To assess the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine and determinant factors among chronic patients visiting Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northeastern Ethiopia. Methods Institution-based cross-sectional study design was used among patients with chronic diseases visiting Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from May 1 to 20, 2021 using a consecutive sampling technique. Binary logistic regression analysis using crude odd ratio (COR) and adjusted odd ratio (AOR) was performed to assess the association between independent and dependent variables. Variables having p values of less than 0.05 at the 95% confidence interval (CI) were considered as factors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Results A total of 416 respondents participated in the survey, with a response rate of 98.6%. About 59.4% of the respondents were willing to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants who had health insurance (AOR=1.812; 95% CI: 1.703–3.059), knew anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 (AOR=2.482; 95% CI: 1.427–4.317), having good knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccine (AOR=6.890; 95% CI: 3.900–120.17), and having a positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine (AOR=7.725; 95% CI: 4.024–14.830) were factors affecting the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion The acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine was low. Use of health insurance, knowing anyone who had been diagnosed with COVID-19, knowledge, and attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine were factors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Healthcare professionals should conduct continuous awareness creation campaigns on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine, safety, and its efficacy. Further studies like longitudinal and qualitative studies should be conducted to identify additional barriers to vaccine acceptance particularly in high-risk groups.

Background Determining the extent of seropositivity of SARS-CoV-2 antibody has the potential to guide prevention and control efforts. We aimed to determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibody among individuals aged above15 years and residing in the congregate settings of Dire Dawa city administration, Ethiopia. Method We analyzed COVID-19 seroprevalence data on 684 individuals from a community based cross-sectional survey conducted among individuals aged above 15 years and residing in congregate settings in Dire Dawa from June 15 to July 30, 2020. Data were collected using interview and blood sample collection. Participants were asked about demographic characteristics, COVID-19 symptoms, and their practice of preventive measures. Seroprevalence was determined using SARS-CoV-2 IgG test. Bivariate and multivariate multilevel mixed effects logistic regression model was fitted and statistical significance was set at p value < 0.05. Result The estimated SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was 3.2% (95 % CI 2.0–4.8) in the study region with no differences by age and sex but considerable differences were observed by self-reported practice of COVID-19 preventive measures. The cluster effect is not significant (P = 0.396) which has suggested no evidence of heterogeneity in SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the clusters. The odds of SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence were higher for individuals who were employed and work by moving from home to work area (AOR; 9.73 95% CI 2.51, 37.68), reported of not wearing facemasks when leaving home (AOR; 6.4 95% CI 2.30, 17.66) and did not practice physical distancing measures (AOR; 10 95% CI 3.01, 33.20) compared to their counterparts, respectively. Our estimated seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among participants who reported not to have practiced social distancing measures was 12.8 (95% CI, 7.0, 19) and 1.5 (95% CI, 0.5, 2.5) among those who reported of practicing them. More than 80% of study participants reported of implementing infection prevention measures (face masks and physical distancing recommendations). Conclusion The detected SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the study participants was low at the time of the survey indicating higher proportion of population yet to be infected. COVID-19 preventive measures were associated with reduced seroprevalence and should be promoted to avoid transmission to the uninfected majority.

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently the critical health problem of the globe, including Ethiopia. Visitors of healthcare facilities are the high-risk groups due to the presence of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the healthcare setting. Increasing the knowledge, attitude, and practices towards COVID-19 prevention among hospital visitors are very important to prevent transmissions of the pandemic despite the lack of evidence remains a challenge in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the status of knowledge, attitude, and preventive practice towards COVID-19 and associated factors among hospital visitors in South Gondar Zone Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods A facility-based cross-sectional study design was employed during August 1 to 30, 2020 from randomly selected 404 adult hospital visitors in South Gondar Zone Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia. The data was collected using interviewer-administered questionnaire. The outcome of this study was good or poor knowledge, positive or negative attitude and good or poor preventive practice towards COVID-19. Three different binary logistic regression models with 95% CI (Confidence interval) was used for data analysis. For each mode, bivariable analysis (crude odds ratio [COR]) and multivariable analysis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]) was used during data analysis. From the bivariable analysis, variables with a p-value <0.25 were retained into the multivariable logistic regression analysis. From the multivariable logistic regression analysis, variables with a significance level of p-value <0.05 were taken as factors independently associated with knowledge, attitude and preventive practices towards COVID-19. Main findings About 69.3% of the respondents had good knowledge, 62.6% had a positive attitude, and 49.3% had good preventive practice towards the prevention of COVID-19. We found that factors significantly associated with good knowledge about COVID-19 were educational status who can read and write (AOR = 2.78; 95%CI: 1.18–6.56) and college and above (AOR = 6.15; 95%CI: 2.18–17.40), and use of social media (AOR = 2.96; 95%CI: 1.46–6.01). Furthermore, factors significantly associated with a positive attitude towards COVID-19 includes the presence of chronic illnesses (AOR = 5.00; 95%CI; 1.71–14.67), training on COVID-19 (AOR = 3.91; 95%CI: 1.96–7.70), and peer/family as a source of information (AOR = 2.45; 95%CI: 1.06–5.63). Being a student (AOR = 7.70; 95%CI: 1.15–15.86) and participants who had a good knowledge on COVID-19 (AOR = 4.49; 95%CI: 2.41–8.39) were factors significantly associated with good practice towards COVID-19. Conclusion We found that knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices towards prevention of COVID-19 among adult hospital visitors were low. Therefore, we recommended that different intervention strategies for knowledge, attitude and preventive practices are urgently needed to control the transmission of COVID-19 among adult hospital visitors. Health education of those who could not read and write about COVID-19 knowledge issues and advocating use of social media that transmit messages about COVID-19 are highly encouraged to increase the good knowledge status of adult hospital visitors. Furthermore, providing training about COVID-19 prevention methods and using various sources of information about COVID-19 will help for improving positive attitude towards COVID-19 prevention, whereas for increasing the status of good preventive practices towards COVID-19, improving the good knowledge about COVID-19 of adult hospital visitors are essential.

Introduction COVID-19 has been a global public health problem since December 2019. Higher education institutions are risky areas for the transmission of COVID-19. But, still there is insufficient information on the prevention of the disease in this setting. Objective To assess knowledge, attitude, and prevention practices towards COVID-19 among students of Ethiopian higher education institutions. Methods Institutin  -based cross-sectional study design was conducted from December 1 to 30, 2020 among randomly selected 407 undergraduate students from higher education institutions in Ethiopia. The outcome variables were knowledge, attitude, and practices towards COVID-19. Binary logistic regression models at 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to determine the factors affecting knowledge, attitude, and practices towards COVID-19. In multivariable analysis, variables with a p-value of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant and independently associated with outcome variables at 95% CI. Results About 75.9% (95% CI: 72.2–79.9%) of University students had a good knowledge, 62.4% (95% CI: 58.2–67.1%) had a positive attitude, and 56.8% (95% CI: 52.6–61.9%) had a good COVID-19 prevention practices. Students over the age of 30 (AOR=5.8; 95% CI: 1.5, 10.6), third-year students (AOR=3.1; 95% CI: 1.1, 8.9), and being health science students (AOR=4.4; 95% CI: 2.2, 8.9) were significantly associated with a good knowledge towards COVID-19. Urban residents (AOR=0.6; 95% CI: 0.3–0.9), having an average family monthly income of $75USD (AOR=3.5; 95% CI: 1.8–6.7), use of at least one type of social media (AOR=4.7; 95% CI: 1.7–12.9), and having a positive attitude (AOR=2.2; 95% CI: 1.3–3.5) were significantly associated with COVID-19 prevention practices. Conclusion Despite three-fourths of the participants had a good knowledge, the attitude and prevention practices were low. Age, study year, College of study, presence of chronic illnesses, use of social media, family income, and residence were factors of knowledge, attitude, and prevention practices towards COVID-19. Hence, multiple information dissemination strategies using multiple media outlets should be implemented continuously.

Background Inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities (HCFs) have an impact on the transmission of infectious diseases, including COVID-19 pandemic. But, there is limited data on the status of WASH facilities in the healthcare settings of Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess WASH facilities and related challenges in the HCFs of Northeastern Ethiopia during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from July to August 2020. About 70 HCFs were selected using a simple random sampling technique. We used a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative study. The quantitative data were collected by an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and observational checklist, whereas the qualitative data were collected using a key-informant interview from the head of HCFs, janitors, and WASH coordinator of the HCFs. The quantitative data were entered in EpiData version 4.6 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 for data cleaning and analysis. The quantitative data on access to WASH facilities was reported using WHO ladder guidelines, which include no access, limited access, and basic access, whereas the qualitative data on challenges to WASH facilities were triangulated with the quantitative result. Results From the survey of 70 HCFs, three-fourths 53 (75.7%) were clinics, 12 (17.2%) were health centers, and 5 (7.1%) were hospitals. Most (88.6%) of the HCFs had basic access to water supply. The absence of a specific budget for WASH facilities, non-functional water pipes, the absence of water-quality monitoring systems, and frequent water interruptions were the major problems with water supply, which occurred primarily in clinics and health centers. Due to the absence of separate latrine designated for disabled people, none of the HCFs possessed basic sanitary facilities. Half (51.5%) of the HCFs had limited access to sanitation facilities. The major problems were the absence of separate latrines for healthcare workers and clients, as well as female and male staffs, an unbalanced number of functional latrines for the number of clients, non-functional latrines, poor cleanliness and misuse of the latrine. Less than a quarter of the HCFs 15 (21.4%) had basic access to handwashing facilities, while half 35 (50%) of the HCFs did not. The lack of functional handwashing facilities at expected sites and misuse of the facilities around the latrine, including theft of supplies by visitors, were the two most serious problems with hygiene facilities. Conclusion Despite the fact that the majority of HCFs had basic access to water, there were problems in their sanitation and handwashing facilities. The lack of physical infrastructure, poor quality of facilities, lack of separate budget to maintain WASH facilities, and inappropriate utilization of WASH facilities were the main problems in HCFs. Further investigation should be done to assess the enabling factors and constraints for the provision, use, and maintenance of WASH infrastructure at HCFs.

A cross sectional study was conducted from October 2013 to April 2014 in and around Kombolcha town to estimate the prevalence of gastro intestinal tract helminthes infection and to identify the common GIT helminthes parasites of equines. Gross examination, direct fecal smear, sedimentation and floatation techniques were utilized to identify the eggs of parasites in feces. A total of 384 horses, mules and donkeys were examined for gastrointestinal parasites. The overall prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was 73.2% (281 from 384) with 57.0% (73 from 128), 82.5% (160 from 194) and 77.4% (48 from 62) in horses, donkeys and mules respectively. Prevalence of Strongyle spp, Parascaris equorum, Oxyuris equi and Anoplocephala spp was 44.5%, 3.1%, 2.3%, and 3.1% respectively in horses. Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was 63.4%, 8.6%, 2.1% and 3.1% for Strongyle spp, Parascaris equorum, Oxyuris equi and Anoplocephala spp in donkeys, respectively and the prevalence of GIT parasites was 48.4%, 12.9%, 3.2% and 6.5% for Strongyle spp, Parascaris equorum, Oxyuris equi and Anoplocephala spp in mules respectively. There was statistically significant difference between species, age, and body condition and among different management systems in prevalence of equine gastrointestinal parasites (p<0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference in prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites based on sex. In conclusion, the present study revealed higher prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in equines. Therefore, regular deworming, improvement of housing and feeding management were recommended.

Introduction More than two-thirds of the pregnant women in Africa have at least one antenatal care contact with a health care provider. However, to achieve the full life-saving potential that antenatal care promises for women and babies, four visits providing essential evidence-based interventions – a package often called focused antenatal care are required. Hence, identifying the factors associated with dropout of maternal health care utilization would have meaningful implications. The study aimed to assess antenatal care dropout and associated factors among mothers delivering in the public health facilities of Dire Dawa town, Ethiopia. Methods Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1 to 30, 2020. Proportionate sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 230 women. Data were collected using a structured and pretested interview administered questionnaire during delivery. The data were entered into Epidata version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. A binary logistic regression model with a 95 % confidence interval was used to analyze the results. Bivariable analysis (COR [crude odds ratio]) and multivariable analysis (AOR [adjusted odds ratio]) was used to analyze the results. From the bivariable analysis, variables with a p-value < 0.25 were entered into the multivariable logistic regression analysis. From the multivariable logistic regression analysis, variables with a significance level of p-value < 0.05 were taken as factors independently associated with ANC dropout. Result The proportion of antenatal care dropouts was 86 (37.4 %) (95 % CI: 31.3–43.9). In logistic regression analyses, those who had no past antenatal care follow up were more likely to have ANC dropout (AOR = 7.89; 95 % CI: 2.109–29.498) and those who had no professional advice were more likely to have antenatal care dropout (AOR = 4.64 95 % CI: 1.246–17.254). Conclusions This study indicates that a high number of women had antenatal care dropout. Having no past ANC follow-up and professional advice were the major factors of ANC service utilization dropout. Hence, giving more information during the ANC visit is important to reduce the dropout rate from the maternity continuum of care.

Moringa stenopetala is a medicinal plant that has been used in Ethiopian traditional medicine as a remedy for the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, and stomach pain. The study is aimed at assessing the toxicity of the methanol extracts of the seeds of Moringa stenopetala on the developing embryo and fetuses of rats. The seeds of Moringa were extracted by maceration using 80% methanol. The extract (250–1000 mg/kg) was orally administered to pregnant Swiss albino rats from days 6 to12 of gestation. Embryos and fetuses were recovered by laparotomy on gestational day 12 and day 20, respectively, and were assessed for developmental anomalies. On day 20, significant prenatal growth retardation such as reduced litter weight and crown-rump length were observed in near term fetuses of 1000 mg/kg treated rats. Litter weight in 1000 mg/kg and pair-fed control groups was 2.41   g ± 0.108 and 3.08   g ± 0.093 , respectively. Delay in the development of an otic, optic, and olfactory system, as well as a reduction in a number of branchial bars, occurred on day 12 embryos of 1000 mg/kg treated rats. The rate of fetal resorption in 1000 mg/kg and pair-fed control groups was 1.6 ± 0.55 and 0.42 ± 0.52 , respectively. There was also a high incidence of fetal death in the 1000 mg/kg treated group but it was not statistically significant. The offspring’s of Moringa-treated rats did not show gross external malformations at all doses. These findings suggest that the methanol seed extract of Moringa stenopetala is not safe to rat embryos and fetuses. Its toxic effects were evidenced by a significant delay in embryonic and fetal development and an increase in fetal resorptions and fetal death.