Background. Standard precautions are infection control techniques against pathogenic microorganisms that are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans. Objective. This study aims to assess knowledge and practice of standard precautions against blood borne pathogens among doctors and nurses in adult emergency room, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods. Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted from February to March 2018. A total of 128 study participants selected from four public hospitals were enrolled in this study. Data were collected using standardized pretested questionnaire and thencoded, entered, checked for completeness, and analyzed using SPSS version-23 statisticalsoftware. Chi-square test was used to measure the association between variables. P values <0.05 were taken as statistically significant. Result. The mean knowledge score of standard precaution measures was 10.3 out of 14 knowledge items. Out of 32 doctors, 93.8% (n=30) have good knowledge and out of 91 nurses, 86.8% (n=79) have good knowledge. The mean practice level of the study subjects was 8.5 out of 12 practice items. Majority (73.6%) of nurses have good practice level than doctors (21.8%). Knowledge level was significantly associated with the presence of infection control officer, infection control guideline, and washing hands before touching patients. Profession, training, and the presence of infection control guideline in emergency room were significantly associated with practice level of respondents (P<0.05). Conclusion. Both nurses and doctors have good knowledge of standard precaution measures. However, nurses have better practice level than doctors. Orientation during employment and continuous training programs should be provided for the newly employed health workers. In addition sustainable supply systems should be available in each hospital management.

Background Unplanned pregnancy is an important public health problem in both the developing and developed world, as it may cause adverse social and health outcomes for mothers, children, and families as a whole. London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy (LMUP) has been formally and informally validated in multiple and diverse settings. However, there is a dearth of literature on the validation of LMUP in Ethiopia either in the Amharic version or other languages. Objective The general objective of this study was to translate the LMUP into Amharic and evaluate its psychometric properties in a sample of Amharic-speaking women receiving antenatal care (ANC) service at public health facilities in Arbaminch and Birbir towns. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used for the study. Forward and backward translation of original English LMUP to Amharic was done. A cognitive interview using a pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from respondents. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 25. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, inter-item correlations, and corrected item-total correlations while construct validity was assessed using principal components analysis and hypothesis testing. Results Data was collected from 320 women attending antennal care services at selected public health care facilities. LMUP range of 1to 11 was captured. The prevalence of unplanned pregnancies was 19(5.9%), while 136(42.5 were ambivalent and 165(51.6%) were planned pregnancies. The reliability testing demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.799) and the validity testing confirmed the unidimensional structure of the scale. In addition, all hypotheses were confirmed. Conclusions Amharic version of LMUP is a valid and reliable tool to measure pregnancy intention so that it can be used by Amharic speaking population in Ethiopia. It can also be used in research studies among Amharic-speaking women to measure unplanned pregnancy.

Introduction Road traffic accidents are a major cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries, causing permanent disabilities, and other indirect health complications. Each year, road traffic accidents (RTA) cause a lot of fatalities and injuries in Ethiopia, putting the country among the list of the most affected countries by RTA in the world. Despite the high rates of road traffic collisions in Ethiopia, very little is known about the factors that contribute to fatal RTA in the country. Objectives the objective of this study is to assess the epidemiological characteristics of deaths from road traffic accidents in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A study based on traffic police records (2018–2020). Method A retrospective observational study design was conducted used in this study. All road traffic accident victims reported to Addis Ababa police station between 2018 and 2020 were study population and the collected data was evaluated with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 software. Binary logistic regression model was used to indicate the association between dependent and independent variables. Statistically, significant associations were declared at P < 0.05. Result There were 8458 recorded road traffic accidents in Addis Ababa during 2018–2020. Among these accidents, 1274 (15.1%) caused death while 7184 (84.1%) caused an injury. Males accounted for 77.1% of the decedents (sex ratio of almost 3.36:1). The majority 1020 (80%) of the fatality occurred on a straight road and 1106 (86.8%) of the fatality occurred in dry weather. Weekday 1.243 (AOR, 1.234, 95 CI, 1.071–1.443), driver educational status below grade twelve 0.326(AOR 0.326, CI, 0.285–0.374), and commercial truck vehicle 1.682 (OR, 1.696, CI, 1.410–2.040) were statistically associated with fatality after adjusting for potential confounding variables. Conclusion The prevalence of RTA fatality in Addis Ababa is high. The accidents that occurred during the weekdays were more fatal. Driver’s educational status, weekdays, and vehicle type were factors associated with mortality. There is a need to introduce road safety interventions that targeted identified factors in this study to reduce fatalities attributed to RTIs.

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The majority of populations in developing countries are living in areas of no access or limited access to prehospital emergency medical services (EMS). In Addis Ababa, the reported prehospital EMS utilization were ranging from zero to thirty-eight percent. However, there is limited research on reasons for the low utilization of prehospital resources in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess factors associated with prehospital EMS utilization among critically ill COVID-19 patients in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted to collect primary data from 421 COVID-19 patients in Addis Ababa between May and July 2021. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with prehospital service utilization. Andersen’s Behavioral Model was implemented to address independent variables, including predisposing, enabling, need, and health behaviors-related variables. The level of prehospital care utilization was 87.6%. Being married [AOR 2.6(95%; CI:1.24–5.58)], belief that self-transport is quicker than the ambulance [AOR 0.13(95%; CI: 0.05–0.34)], and perceptions that ambulance provides transportation service only [AOR 0.14(95%; CI:0.04–0.45)] were predisposing factors associated with prehospital service utilization while the source of referrals [AOR 6.9(95%; CI: 2.78–17.30)], and prior knowledge on the availability of toll-free ambulance calling numbers [AOR 0.14(95%; CI: 0.04–0.45)] were identified as enabling factors. Substantial proportions of critically ill COVID-19 patients used prehospital services to access treatment centers. Prehospital EMS utilization in this study varies by predisposing and enabling factors, particularly: marital status, source of referral, prior knowledge on the availability of toll-free ambulances, belief that self-transport is quicker than ambulances, and perceptions that ambulance provides transportation service only. Our findings call for further actions to be taken by policymakers including physical and media campaigns focusing on the identified factors.