Though early childhood nutritional status is an important aspect of children's health, different factors affect it. Intestinal parasitosis is common among children of developing countries. Even if studies well discuss the public health significance of intestinal parasites and nutritional deficits as a separate issue, evidences discussing their relationship are limited from Ethiopia. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between intestinal parasites and anthropometric status of pre-school children in Hawassa Zuria district, South Ethiopia. A community based cross-sectional study design was applied. Five hundred ninety seven (597) child-mother pairs were selected using simple random sampling. Basic data was collected by interviewing mothers with a semi-structured questionnaire. Z-scores of children's anthropometric statuses were generated using the WHO-Anthro software. Pearson's chi-square analysis was done to test the association between intestinal parasites and nutritional status. Prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting were 245 (41%), 134 (22.4%) and 79 (13.2%), respectively. Half (51.3%) of children were infected at least with one type of intestinal parasite. Ascaris lumbricoides was the most prevalent (42.2%) parasite. A. lumbricoides was associated with weight for age (X 2 = 16.44 and p-value <0.001), weight for height (X 2 = 11.86 and p-value = 0.001) and height for age (X 2 = 27.77 and p-value < 0.001). Hookworm (X 2 = 4.08 and p-value = 0.04) and Trichuris trichiura (X 2 = 5.32 and p-value = 0.02) were associated with weight for height status. Giardia lamblia was associated with height for age (X 2 = 8.81 and p-value = 0.003) and weight for age (X 2 = 6.41 and p-value = 0.01). Entamoeba histolytica was associated with height for age (X 2 = 4.59 and p-value = 0.03). Both undernutrition and intestinal parasites are prevalent in the study area. A. lumbricoides, Hookworm, G. lamblia, E. histolytica and T. trichiura are associated with pre-school children's nutritional status. Better attention shall be given to preventive and curative measures of both undernutrition and intestinal parasites.

Background: Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is an entry point for the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child and accessing VCT benefit from PMTCT services. Even though, some pregnant women clearly know the benefits /advantages of PMTCT services, they are not willing to test and access the services. Hence, this study was aimed to assess the willingness of pregnant women attending antenatal care towards VCT/PMTCT at Adare general hospital in southern Ethiopia. Method: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Hawassa Adare hospital, southern Ethiopia from February to April/2018. A total of 338 randomly selected pregnant women who were attending antenatal care clinic were included. Data was collected using structured and pretested questionnaire; entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20 computer software. Important descriptive and logistic models were used for data analysis assuming statistical significance at p < 0.05. Result: A total of 338 mothers were interviewed with a response rate of 100%. The willingness towards voluntary HIV counseling and testing among study participants was 82.2%. Participants who attended primary and High school and above were 3.9 (AOR= 3.87, 95% CI- 1.705, 8.782) and 9.5 times (AOR 9.53 at 95% CI- 3.155, 28.76); those who had good knowledge about VCT/PMTCT were 3.47 times (AOR=3.47, 95% CI-1.721, 7.003); women who followed two to three ANC visit, were 5.1 times more likely have willingness towards VCT/PMTCT (AOR 5.11 at 95% CI -1.095, 23.81) more likely willing to be tested than their counterparts respectively. Conclusion: Willingness towards voluntary HIV counseling was encouraging however it needs advancement. Since boosted knowledge and awareness promote willingness to VCT/PMTCT uptakes, initiation of community-based information dissemination, increased quality of ANC service, and empowering women to be educated could be effective in order to promote high VCT and PMTCT program uptakes

The aim of this Doctoral Seminar-I is to examine why the majority of SMEs in the developing countries like Ethiopia remain focused on the domestic market, while few choose to sell a proportion of their goods abroad, even though they face similar market conditions and operate in the same location. A variety of explanations to this problem exist in the literature examining the export promotion strategy of SMEs. Following the recognition of a gap in international marketing strategy such as: standardization and adaption, managerial determinants and export behavior including expansion and involvement based on the literature studies, this Doctoral Seminar-I seeks to shed light on the issue from the Ethiopian context. The seminar proposes an integrated theoretical framework, developed from the analyses of the extant literature review, to address an explanation why some SMEs export do not succeed to achieve the exporting of their products in the context of developing countries like Ethiopia. The proposed framework consists of a synthesized integration of the following theoretical perspectives: the resource-based view of the firm; stage theory; network theory, international entrepreneurship theory; and contingency theory which mostly applicable in the context of SMEs. Here, the key assumptions underlying the integrated framework that SMEs export behaviour represents a complex event, and therefore no single theoretical framework is robust enough to explain the phenomenon in detail. In addition, as none of the theoretical frameworks are without weakness it is argued their integration offsets the weaknesses of each, thereby offering a deeper explanation of the factors underlying export behaviour, international marketing strategy and managerial determinants.

Post-partum family planning aims to prevent unintended pregnancy within the first year postpartum. Closely spaced pregnancy within the first year of post-partum (PP) is associated with higher risk of preterm birth, low birth weight or small for gestational age. However, the perceived uptakes of postpartum contraceptives is very low. The intention of this study was determine uptakes and associated factors of postpartum family planning in southern Ethiopia. The study was conducted in Hawassa city administration which is the capital of SNNPR. Community based cross-sectional study was employed women who gave birth in the last 12 months before survey. Data was collected using structured questionnaire proceeding informed verbal consent. Logistic regression model was used to identify associations between variables and findings were presented by tables and figures. The prevalence of current post-partum contraceptive use was 85.1%. After adjusting for covariates; the odds of using postpartum contraceptive were 1.31 times, 12.13 times, 5.17 times, 10.77 time and 4.69 times higher among women with, knowledge about advantages and side effects of contraceptives, partner support for contraceptive use, previously contraceptive use and not returned period respectively with (P &#60;0. 05).uptakesofpostpartum contraceptives in Hawassa city administration was promising. Detailed counseling about postpartum contraceptive use, could assist equipping women with knowledge of family planning methods; empowering them to be decisive in the health and positivity of male partners are very crucial to promote postpartum use of contraceptives.