BackgroundDirectly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) has been one of the major strategies to combat the epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) globally. This study aimed to evaluate TB treatment outcomes between September 2004 and July 2014 under the DOTS program at one of the largest public hospitals in Ethiopia.MethodsA retrospective data of TB patients registered at Asella Teaching Hospital between September 2004 and July 2014 were obtained from hospital registry. Treatment outcomes and types of TB cases were categorized according to the national TB control program guideline. Binomial and multinomial logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between treatment outcomes and potential predictor variables.ResultsA total of 1,755 TB patients’ records were included in the study. Of these, 945 (53.8%) were male, 480 (27.4%) smear-positive TB, 287 (16.4%) HIV positive, and 1,549 (88.3%) new cases. Among 480 smear-positive pulmonary TB cases, 377 (78.5%) patients were cured, 21 (4.40) completed the treatment, 35 (7.3%) transferred out, 19 (4.0%) died, 24 (5.0%) defaulted, and 4 (0.8%) failure. Overall, 398 (82.9%) smear-positive pulmonary TB patients were successfully treated. For smear-negative TB (n = 641) and extrapulmonary TB cases (n = 634), 1,036 (81.3%) completed the treatment and demonstrated favorable response. Taking all TB types into account, 1,434 (81.7%) were considered as successfully treated. In the multivariate binary logistic model, patients in older age group (AOR = 0.386, 95% CI: 0.250–0.596) and retreatment cases (AOR = 0.422, 95% CI: 0.226–0.790) were less likely to be successfully treated compared to younger and new cases, respectively. In multinomial logistic regression, age increment by 1 year increased the risk of death and default of TB patients by 0.05 (adjusted β = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.06) and 0.02 (adjusted β = 0.02; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.04). The odds of TB patients who died during treatment were higher among HIV-infected TB patients (adjusted β = 2.65; 95% CI: 1.28, 5.50).ConclusionThe treatment success rate of TB patients was low as compared to the national target. TB control needs to be strengthened for the enhancement of treatment outcome.

Background: Evidence has shown access to skilled attendance at birth averting nearly 16-33% maternal deaths. Despite concerted effort to increase access and importance of institutional delivery in preventing maternal death, only 46% and 15% of developing nations and Ethiopian national deliveries, respectively delivered in health facilities that makes assessment of the barriers to health facility delivery important in the study setup.

Post-natal care refers to the assistance given to the mothers and the babies for a period of six weeks from the time of delivery. It is believed to be low in Ethiopia. This study provided postnatal care service utilization information in the study area.Objectives: To assess postnatal care service utilization prevalence in Asella Town,

Aims: The use of multivariate techniques is an important strategy for germplasm classification and study of genetic relationships among genotypes. This study was designed to evaluate using multivariate analysis the genetic divergence among 112 garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.) genotypes collected from different Administrative Zones of Ethiopia. Methodology: The experiment was conducted at Haramaya University Research Site and Kulumsa farmer field. Twelve agro-morphological traits were evaluated in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with two replications. Region-wise analyses of variance, principal component and cluster analyses were applied.