BackgroundDisclosure of human immune deficiency virus (HIV) positive status has a key role in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. The failure of people infected with HIV to disclose their positive status can expose their sexual partners to the virus. Identifying the factors associated with status disclosure is a priority issue as high proportion of people living with HIV do not discloses their status and to design appropriate strategy to deal with the issues this involves. The aim of this study was to assess the disclosure and its associated factors of HIV positive status to sexual partners among patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic follow up at Mekelle Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia.MethodsAn institution based cross sectional study was conducted at Mekelle hospital. Samples of 324 individuals were selected by using systematic random sampling techniques from July 1st until the 30th July 2012. The data was collected by trained data collectors through pretested semi structured questionnaire. The collected data was cleaned, coded, entered and then analysed using SPSS version 16.0 windows program. Descriptive statistics, binary and multivariable regression analysis with 95% confidence interval was carried out and p value less than 0.05 used to determine the significant association.ResultsA total of 324 people on ART care follow up were interviewed with 100% response rate. The overall HIV status disclosure to sexual partner was 57.4%. Among those who disclosed their HIV status 58.0% of them told their partner after one month of initial diagnosis. The study showed that there is significant association between knowing HIV status of sexual partner [AOR = 16.69, 95% CI (5.4, 51.65)], duration of HIV related care follow up [AOR = 5.48, 95% CI (2.17, 13.80)] and discussion before HIV testing [AOR = 4.33, 95% CI (1.43, 13.08)] with HIV positive status disclosure to sexual partner.ConclusionsA HIV positive status disclosure to a sexual partner in this study was lower than what was reported in other studies in Ethiopia. The duration of HIV related care follow up, knowing partners HIV status and prior discussion were the main factors which affect the practice of HIV positive status disclosure to their sexual partners.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to assess the disclosure of HIV-positive status and its associated factors to sexual partners among patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic follow-up at Mekelle Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia.Patients and methodsAn institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Mekelle hospital. Samples of 324 individuals were selected by using systematic random sampling techniques from July 1 until July 30, 2013. The data were collected by trained data collectors through a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were cleaned, coded, entered, and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 Windows program. Descriptive statistics and binary and multivariable regression analysis with 95% confidence interval was carried out and P-value less than 0.05 used to determine the significant association.ResultsA total of 324 people on ART care follow-up were interviewed with 100% response rate. The overall HIV status disclosure to sexual partner was 57.4%. Among those who disclosed their HIV status, 58% of them told their partner after 1 month after diagnosis. The study showed that there is significant association between knowing HIV status of sexual partner (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =16.69, 95% CI: 5.4, 51.65), duration of HIV-related care follow-up (AOR =5.48, 95% CI =2.17, 13.80), and discussion before HIV testing (AOR =4.33, 95% CI =1.43, 13.08), with HIV-positive status disclosure to sexual partner.ConclusionAn HIV-positive status disclosure to a sexual partner in this study was lower than what was reported in other studies in Ethiopia. The duration of HIV-related care follow-up, knowing partner’s HIV status, and prior discussion were the main factors that affected the practice of HIV-positive status disclosure to their sexual partners.

OBJECTIVES: Recovery time from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is often a neglected topic despite its clinical impact. Although a few studies have examined nutritional recovery time, the length of hospitalization in those studies varied greatly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the recovery time from SAM and to identify predictors of length of hospitalization among under-5 children.METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 423 under-5 children with SAM who had been admitted to Yekatit 12 Hospital. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate time to nutritional recovery, and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to determine independent predictors.RESULTS: The nutritional recovery rate was 81.3%, and the median recovery time was 15.00 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 13.61 to 16.39). Age, daily weight gain per kilogram of body weight, vaccination status, and the existence of at least 1 comorbidity (e.g., pneumonia, stunting, shock, and deworming) were found to be significant independent predictors of nutritional recovery time. The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for nutritional recovery decreased by 1.9% for every 1-month increase in child age (aHR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.97 to 0.99).CONCLUSIONS: The overall nutritional recovery time in this study was within the Sphere standards. However, approximately 13.0% of children stayed in the hospital for more than 28.00 days, which is an unacceptably large proportion. Daily weight gain of ≥8 g/kg, full vaccination, and deworming with albendazole or mebendazole reduced nutritional recovery time. Conversely, older age, pneumonia, stunting, and shock increased nutritional recovery time.

BackgroundOptimal breastfeeding is inextricably linked to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. Breastfeeding is safe, promotes sensory and cognitive development and contains antibodies that protect infants from common childhood illnesses. The objective of this study was to assess suboptimal breastfeeding and its determinants factors among mothers who have children below 23 months old in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia.MethodsA community based cross sectional study was conducted from 1 March 2015 until 30 March 2015. Five hundred forty eight mothers were included in the study using a two stage sampling technique. The data was collected by trained data collectors through pretested semi structured questionnaire. The collected data were cleaned, coded, entered and then analyzed using SPSS version 20 windows program. Descriptive statistics, binary and multivariable regression analysis with 95 % confidence interval was carried out and p value less than 0.05 used to determine the significant association. Late initiation of breastfeeding was defined as initiation of breastfeeding after one hour of delivery while early cessation of breastfeeding was to stop breastfeeding before 24 months of age. According to World Health Organization exclusive breastfeeding was defined as the practice of feeding breast milk only, including expressed breast milk, to infants and excluding water, other liquids, breast milk substitutes, and solid foods. Vitamin drops, minerals, oral rehydrating solution (ORS) and medicines may be given.ResultsThe prevalence of late initiation of breastfeeding, not exclusively breastfeeding and early cessation of breastfeeding were 17.5 % (95 % Confidence Interval [CI] 15.2 %, 19.4), 49.8 % (95 % CI 46.3, 50.5) and 12.8 % (95 % CI 11.7, 14.1) respectively. Birth at home was significantly associated with late initiation of breastfeeding (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 3.0; 95 % CI 1.5, 6.0). No advice during antenatal care was a predictor of not exclusively breastfeeding (AOR1.7; 95 % CI 1.2, 2.5). Being illiterate (AOR 3.2; 95 % CI 1.2, 8.3) and no advice during antenatal care about breastfeeding (AOR 1.9; 95 % CI 1.0. 3.4) were significantly associated with early cessation of breastfeeding.ConclusionEducational status, age, antenatal and postnatal follow up, resident and place of delivery were predictors of suboptimal breastfeeding. Integrated and targeted interventions were recommended to achieve a better outcome in minimizing the late initiation, non-exclusive and early cessation of breastfeeding.

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