Background. Jaundice in the neonate is one of the most common clinical problems. Globally, every year about 1.1 million babies develop it and the vast majority reside in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Study on magnitude and local factors associated with neonatal jaundice is limited in Ethiopia. So this study was aimed at assessing magnitude and predictors of neonatal jaundice among neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care unit of public hospitals in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia. Methods. Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2016 in neonatal intensive care unit of Mekelle city public hospitals. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Data was collected by interviewing mothers through structured questionnaire and reviewing neonates’ medical records using checklist. Multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were employed to identify factors associated with neonatal jaundice. Results. A total of 209 neonates with their mothers were included. The proportion of neonatal jaundice was found to be 37.3%. Prolonged labor [AOR = 4.39; 95% CI (1.8-10.69)], being male [AOR = 3.7; 95% CI (1.54-8.87)], maternal “O” blood group [AOR = 5.05; 95% CI (1.53-16.72)], sepsis [AOR = 2.64; 95% CI (1.15-6.05)], and blood type incompatibility [AOR = 18.21; 95% CI (6.36-52.13)] were positively associated with neonatal jaundice while night time delivery [AOR 0.42; 95% CI (0.18-0.96)] showed negative association. Conclusion. The magnitude of neonatal jaundice among neonates was found to be high. Duration of labor, time of delivery, sexes of neonate, sepsis, maternal blood group, and blood type incompatibility were significantly associated with neonatal jaundice. Therefore, improving newborn care and timely intervention for neonates with ABO/Rh incompatibility are recommended.

Background Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BPCR) is a strategy that helps women to consider all available maternal health care services during pregnancy and prepare for potential complications. Though global annual number of maternal deaths decreased to an estimated 303,000 in 2015, avoidable morbidity and mortality remains a formidable challenge in many developing countries which account for approximately 99% (302,000) of the global maternal deaths in 2015. This study aims to assess the practice and factors associated with birth preparedness and complication readiness among women in Sodo town, Wolaita zone, Southern Ethiopia; 2018. Methods Community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from June 1–30, 2018. A total of 495 (pregnant and recently delivered women), were randomly selected and interviewed using pretested structured questionnaire. The data were entered using EPI Data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics were reported and bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was carried out to see the effect of each independent variable on the dependent variable. Result Of 506 sampled participants, 495 (49.5% pregnant and 50.5% recently delivered) participated, which made a response rate of 97.8%. 48.5% of women were prepared for birth and ready for its complication in the study area. From multivariable analysis, women in the age group of 15–24 (AOR = 2.39, 95% C. I = 1.19, 4.46) and 25–34 years (AOR = 1.89, 95% C. I = 1.10, 3.25); women who attended college and above level of education (AOR = 2.07, C. I = 1.11, 3.88); women counseled to prepare potential blood donors (AOR = 1.90, 95% C. I = 1.15, 3.12) and to identify skilled birth attendants prior to birth (AOR = 1.59, 95% C. I = 1.05, 2.39) and women whose partners and/or families were counseled (AOR = 2.16, 95%C.I = 1.25, 3.74) were factors positively associated with birth preparedness and complication readiness practice. Conclusion Although not satisfactory in view of expectations, a relatively higher practice of birth preparedness and complication readiness had been observed in the study area compared with the previous reports. Healthcare workers at the grassroots should be encouraged to involve women’s partners and/or family members while explaining birth preparedness and complication readiness with a special emphasis on older (> 35 years) and uneducated women in order to improve the practice in the study area.

BackgroundSexually transmitted infections are highly prevalent among pregnant women in Africa. Among the incidence of HIV infection in children, 90% of the infection is attributable to their mothers. Ethiopia is one of the countries with an increasing risky sexual behavior and the most affected by the HIV epidemic. If prevention of mother to child transmission focuses on increasing contraception, it will prevent more than 29% of HIV infection at birth. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess utilization of dual contraceptive  method and associated factors among reproductive age women on antiretroviral therapy in selected public hospitals of Mekelle town, Northern Ethiopia.MethodsInstitution based cross-sectional survey was conducted in selected public hospitals of Mekelle among women under antiretroviral therapy from March 1–April 31, 2016. We used a systematic sampling technique to select 331 women. A pretested interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The data were entered in to Epi data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis was computed. Odds ratio along with 95% CI was computed to ascertain the association. Statistical tests at p-value of < 0.05 were considered as cut off point to determine statistical significance.ResultsOnly 51(15.7%) of participants have utilized dual contraception method. Being single[AOR 5.43, 95% CI (1.61, 18.32)] and cohabitated [AOR 6.06; 95% CI: (2.16, 16.95)] in marital status, having HIV negative partner [AOR 4.44; 95% CI: (1.23, 16.04)], exposure to post diagnosis counseling [AOR 3.03; 95% CI: 1.34, 6.80], disclosed HIV status [AOR 6.06; 95% CI: (1.78, 20.87)] and discussing safer sex with partner [AOR 6.96; 95% CI: (2.75, 16.62)] were positively associated with utilization of dual contraceptive method.ConclusionThe overall magnitude of dual contraceptive use is still low in this study. This will be a great concern on the transmission of the virus from mother to babies and partners and risk of complications following unintended pregnancy. This will continue to present as major public health problems in the region unless future interventions focuses on the barriers through tailored counseling and husband involvement in all aspects of the HIV/AIDS care.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12978-017-0390-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic on 11th March, 2020. In Ethiopia, more than 90,490 and 1,300 confirmed cases and deaths were reported by the Federal Ministry of Health at the time of writing up this project. As health care providers are frontline workers managing the COVID-19 pandemic, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the pooled level of knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among health professionals in Ethiopia. Methods PubMed, Google Scholar, Excerpta Medica database (EMBASE), Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and African Journal of Online (AJOL) were searched. The data were extracted using Microsoft Excel and analyzed using STATA version 14. Publication bias was checked by funnel plot and more objectively through Egger’s regression test, with P < 0.05 considered to indicate potential publication bias. The heterogeneity of studies was checked using I2 statistics. Pooled analysis was conducted using a weighted inverse variance random-effects model. Subgroup analysis was done related to geographic region and time. A leave-one-out sensitivity analysis was also employed. Result A total of 11 studies with 3,843 study participants for knowledge, eight studies with 2,842 study participants for attitude and 10 studies with 3, 435 study participants for practice were used to estimate the pooled level of good knowledge, positive attitude and poor practice among health professionals. The overall estimated good level of knowledge, positive attitude and poor practice towards COVID-19 was found to be 79.4% (95% CI: 73.5%-85.2%; I2 = 96%), 73.7% (95%CI: 63.09%-84.4%; I2 = 98.3%) and 40.3% (95%CI: 31.1%-49.6%; I2 = 97.1%) respectively. Conclusion Study findings showed that there were significant gaps in COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude and practice with respect to World Health Organization recommendations on COVID-19 management and personal protection practices. This study therefore recommends that institutions provide with immediate effect accurate and up-to-date information on COVID-19 and training that encourages improved knowledge, attitude and practice to mitigate this pandemic.

BackgroundDyslipidemia is a common public health problem in Africa. It has emerged as an important cardiovascular risk factor. It has been steadily increasing due to economic growth, urbanization, and unhealthy dietary pattern. Therefore, it is essential to identify determinants of dyslipidemia to prevent the condition and reduce its long-term sequel.MethodsCombinations of search terms with Boolean operators were used to retrieve studies from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Database, Cinahl, Scopus, Mednar, and Google Scholar. The methodological quality of each article was evaluated based on the 2017 Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal checklist for prevalence studies. After evaluation of each study against these criteria, studies with a minimum score of 7 or above out of 9 JBI checklists were included. We included articles presented in the English language. The Cochrane Q test was used to assess the heterogeneity across studies. The visual assessment of publication bias was done by creating a funnel plot. The possible causes of heterogeneity were explored by subgroup analyses. Egger's weighted regression test was used to assess the presence of publication bias. Statistical analyses were done by using the STATA software version 14.ResultA total of 24 articles involving 37,902 participants from 10 African countries were included. The overall pooled prevalence of dyslipidemia was 52.8 (95% CI 40.8–64.9). Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) &gt;25.0 kg/m2 and waist circumference (WC) &gt;94 cm were, respectively, 2.36 (95% CI (1.33–4.18), p &lt; 0.001) and 2.33 (95% CI (0.75–0.29) p &lt; 0.001) times more likely to develop dyslipidemia than those with lower values. Furthermore, patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) were 2.32 (95% CI (0.89–6.05) p &lt; 0.001) and 2.05 (95% CI (1.31–3.21), p &lt; 0.001) times more likely to present with dyslipidemia than non-diabetic patients and those without HTN.ConclusionThis study revealed that the prevalence of dyslipidemia is relatively high among study participants in African countries and the independent predictors of dyslipidemia were BMI &gt;25.0 kg/m2, WC &gt; 94 cm, raised blood glucose level, and raised blood pressure. Therefore, there should be a pressing public health measure to prevent, identify, and treat dyslipidemia with the special emphasis on obese, diabetic, and hypertensive patients.