IntroductionUnmet family planning is one of the common causes for low contraceptive prevalence rate in developing countries including Ethiopia. Thus, this study designed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of unmet need in Shire Endaslassie town, Northern west of Tigray, Ethiopia.MethodsA community based cross sectional study design was employed. Multistage sampling technique was employed and data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire by interviewer administered technique. Questionnaires were reviewed and checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency. Reviewed data were entered to Epi info 7 and analyzed by SPSS version 20 statistical software. Variables with P-value of less than 0.2 in bivariate analyses were entered for multivariate analysis and AOR at 95% CI with p-value of less than 0.05 were considered as significant variables.ResultsThe overall unmet need for family planning in the study area was 109(21.4%). 74(14.5%) for spacing and 35(6.9%) for limiting. Age group of 35-39 and >=40 (AOR= 2.7,95%CI:1.1,6.5), (AOR = 2.65, 95%CI:1.10, 6.40) respectively, decided numbers of desired children more than five (AOR = O.48, 95%CI: 0.28, 0.80), discussions of client with heath care providers (AOR = 6.32, 95%CI: 2.56, 15.58), previous use of modern family planning (AOR = 2.29, 95%CI, 1.20, 4.34) were significantly associated with unmet need for family planning.ConclusionUnmet need for family planning in the study area was high, so continuous discussion on modern family planning with community health workers and encouraging of women to decide desired numbers of children of less than five in general are better to be strengthened.

Objective To assess the rate of glycemic control and associated factors among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients at Dilchora Referral Hospital, Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from 13 May to 16 August 2019. Type 2 diabetic patients on follow up at Dilchora Referral Hospital who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study were included. Systematic random sampling was used to select study participants. Data was collected by a face-to-face interview and review of medical records. The primary outcome was the level of blood glucose during three consecutive visits. Poor glycemic control was defined as a blood sugar level of more than 154 mg/dL based on the average of measurements from three consecutive visits. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify determinants of glycemic control. Result A total of 394 participants responded to the interview and were included in the final analysis. The overall prevalence of poor glycemic control was 45.2% (95%CI: 40.6%-50.0%). Patients who were on oral anti-diabetic drug plus insulin had more than two times greater chance of poor glycemic control than patients on oral anti-diabetic drug alone: 2.177(95%CI:1.10–4.29). The odds of poor glycemic control in patients who did not understand the pharmacist’s instructions was two times higher than patients with good understanding of instructions 1.86(95%CI: 1.10–3.13). Patients who had poor level of practice were found to have poor glycemic control: 1.69(95% CI: 1.13–2.55). Conclusion The overall prevalence of poor glycemic control was high among type 2 diabetes patients. Oral anti-diabetic drugs in combination with insulin, lack of understanding of pharmacist’s advice, and poor practice of diabetic patients were significant factors of poor glycemic control. Pharmacists should reassure the understanding of patients before discharge during counseling. Optimization of the dose of antidiabetic medications and combination of oral hypoglycemic agents should be considered.

Background: Malnutrition is associated with both under nutrition and over nutrition which causes the body to get improp- er amount of nutrients to maintain tissues and organ function. Under nutrition is the result of insufficient intake of food, poor utilization of nutrients due to illnesses, or a combination of these factors. The purpose of this study was to identify associated risk factors and assess the variation of underweight among under-five children of different regions in Ethiopia. Methods: Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey (EDHS-2016) weight-to-age data for under-five children is used. In order to achieve the objective of this study; descriptive, single level and multilevel ordinal logistic regression analysis were used. Results: From a total of 8935 children about 8.1% were severely underweight, 17.1% were moderately underweight and 74.8% were normal. The test of heterogeneity suggested that underweight varies among region and multilevel ordinal model fit data better than single level ordinal model. Conclusion: Educational level of mother, religion, birth order, type of birth, sex of child, mother body mass index, birth size of child, existence of diarrhea for last two weeks before survey, existence of fever for last two weeks before survey, duration of breast feeding, age child and wealth index had significant effect on underweight among under-five children in Ethiopia. The finding revealed that among the fitted multilevel partial proportional odds model, the random intercept model with fixed coefficients is appropriate to assess the risk factors of underweight among under-five children in Ethiopia. The findings of this study have important policy implications. The government should work closely with both the private sector and civil society to teach women to have sufficient knowledge, awareness and mechanisms of improving under-five under- weight for children’s wellbeing. Keywords: Underweight; Partial proportional odds model; Multilevel partial proportional odds model; under-five children.

Background: Despite the benefits of breast milk and colostrum for the health and survival of children, early prelacteal feeding is commonly practiced worldwide, particularly in lowand middle-income countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the pooled prevalence and determinants of prelacteal feeding in Eastern Africa. Methods: This study was carried out within 11 East African countries from 2010 to 2018, a pooled study of prelacteal feeding was performed. For assessing model fitness and contrast, intra-class correlation coefficient, median odds ratio, proportional change in variance, and deviance were used. In order to identify possible covariates associated with prelacteal feeding in the study area, the multilevel multivariable logistic regression model was adapted. Adjusted Odds Ratio was used with 95% confidence interval to declare major prelacteal factors. Results: The pooled prevalence of prelacteal feeding in Eastern Africa was 12% (95% CI: 11.42-12.53%), with the highest prevalence of prelacteal feeding in the Comoros (39%) and the lowest in Malawi (3%). Multilevel multivariable logistic regression model; wealth index (AOR = 1.22; 95% CI 1.03-1.34), ANC visit (AOR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.12-1.79), institutional delivery (AOR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.58-0.64), small birth size (AOR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.30-1.26), delivery type (AOR = 2.61; 95% CI: 2.30-2.96), and high community ANC visit (AOR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.84-0.97) were significantly associated with prelacteal feeding in Eastern Africa. Conclusion: In East Africa, the magnitude of prelacteal feeding was still high. The possible determinants of prelacteal feeding in Eastern Africa were wealth index, birth interval, delivery mode, place of delivery, ANC visit, and community ANC visit. Structural improvements are required for women with caesarean births to achieve optimal breastfeeding practice in Eastern Africa.

Background: Acute kidney injury is a common disorder worldwide, occurring in more than 13 million per year, 85% of whom live in developing countries. The high incidence of acute kidney injury among type 2 diabetic patients is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. There is limited data that address the incidence and predictors of acute kidney injury to apply evidence-based interventions in developing countries including Ethiopia specifically in the study area. Methods: Institution-based retrospective follow-up study was conducted among 420 adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2019. Log rank test and Kaplan-Meier curve were used to compare different categories of survival probability. In a multivariable analysis, variable having a p-value <0.05 in the Cox, proportional hazard model was considered as independent predictors. Results: Overall, 19.76% (95% CI; 16.2-23.8) of the study population developed acute kidney injury, with a median follow-up period of 30.75 months. Congestive heart failure [adjusted hazard ratio (AHR): 2.89 (95% CI; 1.62, 5.13)], chronic kidney disease [AHR: 2.92 (95% CI; 1.56, 5.48)], hypertension [AHR: 2.87 (95% CI; 1.20, 6.90)], and diabetic nephropathy [AHR: 2.04 (95% CI; 1.13, 3.68)] were found to be predictors of acute kidney injury. Conclusion:The incidence of acute kidney injury among type 2 diabetes patients was high in the study area. In patients with hypertension congestive heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and diabetic nephropathy efforts should be made to diagnose AKI early and treat itin addition to better control accordingly among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.