Background. Trachoma is the most common infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Once an epidemic in most parts of the world, it has largely now disappeared from developed countries. However, it continues to be endemic in many developing countries like Ethiopia. Even if several studies were conducted in different parts of Ethiopia, most of them did not show the independent predictors for rural and urban children separately. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the prevalence and associated factors of active trachoma in urban and rural children. Methods. Community based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in Dera woreda. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 671 children of one up to nine years of age. Data were collected by face to face interview and observation using a structured and pretested questionnaire. Binary Logistic Regression Model was fitted to consider adding independent predictors of outcome. Results. Out of 671 children, 20 (9.3%) of urban and 85 (18.6%) of rural children were positive for active trachoma. Having discharge on eye (AOR = 6.9, 95% CI: 1.79–27.89), presence of liquid waste around the main house (AOR = 5.6, 95% CI: 1.94–16.18), and living in households without latrine (AOR = 4.39, 95% CI: 1.39–13.89) were significantly associated with active trachoma of urban children. Rural children who had discharge on their eye (AOR = 5.86, 95% CI: 2.78–12.33), those who had unclean face (AOR = 4.68, 95% CI: 2.24–9.81), and those living in households with feces around their main houses (AOR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.04–3.62) were significantly associated with active trachoma. Conclusion. The result showed that the prevalence of active trachoma in urban areas of the district was below WHO threshold of 10% to determine trachoma as public health problem. However, in rural areas of the district it is far from elimination of trachoma as a public health problem. Thus, in order to improve awareness of the community there is a need of health education programs regarding facial cleanliness, utilization of latrine, and proper solid waste and liquid waste disposal using multidisciplinary approach.

Background. Antenatal care (ANC) is an entry point for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), particularly when a man accompanies his spouse for voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), even though this seldom happens in Ethiopia. Objective. To study the role of male partners in improving PMTCT/ANC, which is essential to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission in this country. Our study focused on identifying barriers for the low involvement in PMTCT/ANC among male partners whose spouses received ANC. Methods. A total of 422 male partners in Goba town, Oromia regional state, Ethiopia, were recruited in September -October 2014 and enrolled by a systematic sampling method. A facility-based cross-sectional study and two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted. Binary logistic regression and odds ratios were calculated to ascertain sociodemographic and other important information compared with the outcome variable and PMTCT/ANC, while the findings of the FGDs were grouped according to the emerging themes and analysed manually by means of a thematic approach. Results. The percentage of male partners (22.7%) accompanying their spouses for HIV testing and counselling at antenatal clinics improved three-fold when an invitation letter was introduced as a new initiative to increase male participation. Individuals in the age group 15 -29 years (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 5.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.66 -17.85), and whose duration of marriage was ˂5 years (AOR 5.6, 95% CI 1.83 -17.30), were more likely to be tested than their referent groups. Men without a higher education (AOR 0.1, 95% CI 0.02 -0.50), who disagreed with legal enforcement (AOR 0.1, 95% CI 0.07 -0.32), were less likely to be tested, while those who did not notify their partners (AOR 8.4, 95% CI 1.92 -37.12) were more likely to use the service. Being busy, proxy testing, fears of testing HIV-positive, neglecting the importance of VCT, and inadequate knowledge about the PMTCT/ANC programme were other barriers that came to the fore in the FGDs. Conclusion. Identified barriers have to be addressed, and helpful practices, such as using invitation letters to increase the uptake of the service by male partners, have to be instituted.