Background Open defecation facilitates the transmission of pathogens that cause diarrheal diseases, which is the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease. It also exposed hundreds of millions of girls and women around the world to increased sexual exploitation. Open defecation is more practice in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and is considered an indicator of low socioeconomic status. However, there is little evidence on the pooled prevalence and factors contributing to open defecation practice among households in SSA. Objectives This study aimed to assess the pooled prevalence, wealth-related inequalities, and other determinants of open defecation practice among households in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods Demographic and Health Survey data sets of 33 SSA countries with a total sample of 452,281 households were used for this study. Data were weighted, cleaned, and analyzed using STATA 14 software. Meta analyses were used to determine the pooled prevalence of open defecation practice among households in SSA. Multilevel analysis was employed to identify factors contributing to open defecation practice among households in SSA. Moreover, concentration index and graph were used to assess wealth-related inequalities of open defecation practice. The associations between dependent and independent variables were presented using adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals with a p value of < 0.05. Results The pooled prevalence of open defecation practice among households in sub-Saharan African countries was 22.55% (95%CI: 17.49%, 27.61%) with I2 = 99.9% and ranges from 0.81% in Comoros to 72.75% in Niger. Individual level factors, such as age, educational attainment, media exposure, wealth status, and access to drinking water, as well community level factors, such as residence, country income status, and region in SSA, had a significant association with open defecation practice. The concentration index value [C = − 0.55; 95% CI: − 0.54, − 0.56] showed that open defecation practice was significantly disproportionately concentrated on the poor households (pro-poor distribution). Conclusions Open defecation practice remains a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Individual level factors, such as age, educational attainment, media exposure, household wealth status, and access to drinking water had an association with open defecation practice. Moreover, community level factors such as residence, country income status and region in SSA have a significant effect on open defecation. There is a significantly disproportional pro-poor distribution of open defecation practice in SSA. Each country should prioritize eliminating open defecation practices that focused poorest communities, rural societies, and limited water access areas. Media exposure and education should be strengthened. Moreover, public health interventions should target to narrow the poor-rich gap in the open defecation practice among households including provisions of subsidies to the poor. Policymakers and program planners better use this evidence as preliminary evidence to plan and decide accordingly.

Background COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is a common practice in developing countries like Ethiopia. Despite there being a rumor from the community that the use of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is associated with many pregnancy adverse outcomes. However, there is a paucity of empirical evidence on the perception of risk COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy in Ethiopia. This study assessed the perception of risk COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy and associated factors in Motta town and Hulet Eji Enese district, northwest Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 12 to February 12, 2021. A total of 851 women’ were selected using the stratified cluster sampling technique. Data were collected by face-to-face interview using a semi-structured pretested and interviewer-administered questionnaire. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with the perception of risk COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval at a p-value of ≤ 0.05 was used to declare the level of significance. Results Perception of risk COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy was 34.2% (95%CI (Confidence Interval): 31–37). Unplanned pregnancy (AOR = 3.66; 95%CI: 2.31–5.81), long travel time to the nearby health care facility (AOR: 4.57; 95% CI: 2.34–8.91), have no formal education (AOR: 3.15; 95%CI: 1.71–5.79), attending secondary educational level (AOR: 5.18; 95% CI: 2.17–12.4), no ANC (Antenatal Care) service utilization (AOR: 7.07; 95% CI: 4.35–11.5) and negative attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination (AOR: 6.05; 95%CI: 3.88–9.43) were significantly associated with the perception of risk COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Conclusions Most of the participants perceive COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy as a risk for the outcome of pregnancy. Designing strategies to increase women’s educational status, promoting the need for maternal and child health services, and awareness creation regarding COVID-19 vaccination will have a great role in changing the perception of pregnant women. Therefore, the government should design public health programs targeting the identified factor, and should minimize the perception of risk acquiring infection from COVID-19 vaccine to improve maternal and neonatal health outcome.

Pesticides are substances that are used to kill, decrease, or repel pests and are used extensively to boost agricultural production. Ethiopian floriculture is one of the pesticide-intensive agricultural production centers and it provides jobs for 1000s of Ethiopians. Despite its significant contribution to the national economy, many issues are raised by the workers. The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and factors associated with the practices of workers against pesticide exposure among floriculture workers in Bahirdar city. A cross-sectional occupational study was done. The participants were recruited using a stratified sample technique. The final study participants were chosen using a simple random sampling procedure. The survey received 300 responses, 95.2% response rate from the entire sample size. The mean age of floriculture workers was 20 (SD ± 3.21) years, with a range of 17 to 48 years. The majority of workers (228) were females, and 36 (12.0%) of workers were illiterate. About 259 (86.3%) of floriculture workers did not know the name of the pesticide they were using. More than three-fourth 256 (85.3%) of respondents know at least one type of pesticide-related health problem. In this study, the most known type of pesticide routes of entry into the body were eyes (72.3%), skin (67.3%) followed by ingestion (67.0%). About 100 (33.3%) of the participants had good overall knowledge related to pesticide use and 134 (44.7%) of workers had a positive attitude on safe pesticide application. The level of good practice was 61.3% (N = 184). Knowing the impact of pesticide on environment (AOR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.30-0.96), Knowing pesticide health problems, (AOR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.20-0.63), willingness to wear and invest for PPE (AOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.28-0.98) and PPE supply (AOR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.16-0.51) were significantly associated with workers pesticide handling practices. Workers who didn’t know pesticide health problems were 36% less likely to have a good practice. The likelihood of having good practices among works who disagree to wear and invest on PPE 53% lower than those who agree on it. The likelihood of having good practices among workers who didn’t have any PPE supply was lower than their counterparts with (AOR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.16-0.51). Floriculture workers had poor handling practices therefore continuous pesticide training programs for workers could be implemented.

Background. Acute respiratory infections in particular pneumonia constitutes the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under five years of age throughout the world. In Ethiopia, pneumonia continues to be the major childhood problem and killer, particularly in the study area. However, evidence dealing with the problem is still unavailable. The current study is aimed at determining the magnitude and risk factors of childhood pneumonia in Gondar City. Methods. A community-based cross-sectional study was employed in five randomly selected clusters/subcities of Gondar City. A total of 792 child-mother/caregiver pairs in the selected subcities/clusters were included. A pretested and validated questionnaire was used by trained supervisors through house-to-house visits to collect the data. Binary logistic regression (bivariable and multivariable) was employed. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to declare statistically significant variables on the basis of p<0.05 in the multivariable logistic regression model. Results. The prevalence of pneumonia among under-five children in the current study was found to be 12% with 95% CI: 10% to 14.4%. The presence of unpaved road within 100 m of the house (AOR=2.27, 95% CI: 1.41-3.66), living within 100 m of heavy traffic (AOR=1.94, 95% CI: 1.19-3.16), the habit of not opening doors while cooking (AOR=1.62, 95% CI: 1.01-2.62), the presence of cockroach infestation (AOR=1.98, 95% CI: 1.25-3.14), and new carpet in the house (AOR=1.75, 95% CI: 1.01-3.03) were statistically significant variables associated with childhood pneumonia. Conclusions. This study indicated that the prevalence of childhood pneumonia is still high. As such, enhancing strategies that would address unpaved roads within 100 m of the house, living within 100 m of heavy traffic, the habit of not opening doors while cooking, cockroach infestation, and new carpet in the house to reduce the burden of childhood pneumonia needs to be advocated.

BackgroundDespite the commitments of the government to minimize unintended pregnancy, abortion, and unmet need for contraceptives, as per our search of the literature, there is no study on the pooled prevalence and determinants of informed choice of contraceptive methods in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the pooled prevalence and determinants of informed choice of contraceptive methods among reproductive-aged women in sub-Saharan Africa.MethodsThis study was based on the 32 Sub-Saharan African countries Demographic and Health Survey data. A total weighted sample of 65,487 women aged 15–49 was included in the study. The data were cleaned, weighted, and analyzed using STATA Version 14 software. Multilevel logistic regression modeling was used to identify determinants of an informed choice of contraceptive methods. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) and p-value &lt; 0.05 were used to declare the significant determinants.ResultThe pooled prevalence of informed choice of contraceptive methods among reproductive age (15–49) women in sub-Saharan Africa was 49.47% (95%CI: 44.33, 54.62%) with I2 =99.5%, and variations in range of 19.42 to 78.42%. Women aged 25–34 years old (AOR = 1.26 95%CI: 1.21, 1.32) and 35–49 years (AOR = 1.33 95%CI: 1.27, 1.40), attending primary education (AOR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.20, 1.32), secondary education (AOR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.43, 1.58) and higher education (AOR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.84, 2.19), having media exposure (AOR = 1.12, 95%CI: 1.07, 1.16), utilizing IUD (AOR = 1.98, 95%CI: 1.79, 2.19), injectable (AOR = 1.29, 95%CI: 1.23, 1.36) and implants (AOR = 1.70, 95%CI: 1.61, 1.79), survey year 2016–2020 (AOR = 1.38, 95%CI: 1.31, 1.44), women from lower middle (AOR = 1.25, 95%CI: 1.19, 1.31) and upper middle income level countries (AOR = 1.37, 95%CI: 1.23, 1.53) were associated with increased odds of informed choice of contraceptive methods. While, women who accessed contraceptives from private clinics (AOR = 0.64, 95%CI: 0.61, 0.67), pharmacies (AOR = 0.37, 95%CI: 0.35, 0.40), and others (AOR = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.43, 0.52), women in East Africa (AOR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.67, 0.73), Central Africa (AOR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.57), and South Africa (AOR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.40) were associated with decreased odds of informed choice of contraceptive methods.ConclusionThe pooled prevalence of informed choice of contraceptive methods in Sub-Saharan Africa is low with high disparities among the countries. Enhancing maternal education and media exposure, providing greater concern for the source of contraceptive methods, and strengthening the economic status of the country are recommended to enhance informed choice of contraceptive methods.