BackgroundApproximately 16 million teenagers aged 15–19 years and 2 million teenagers under the age of 15 years give birth annually, with 95% of these births occurring in developing countries. Ethiopia has one of the highest teenage fertility rates in Sub-Saharan Africa; however determinants of teenage pregnancy are not well studied. Therefore, this study aimed to identify determinants of teenage pregnancy among female teenagers in Degua Tembien district, Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, in 2015.MethodsA community-based case-control study was conducted in Degua' Tembien district from February 01, 2015 to March 15, 2015 with a randomly selected total sample size of 414 females (with a ratio of 1:2 case to control, 138 and 276 respectively). Data were entered in to Epi-Info and analyzed using SPSS software. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess predictors of the outcome variable; variables with a p-value <0.25 in bivariable analysis were included in the model. Statistically significance was considered at a p-value ≤0.05 in both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses.ResultThe mean ages (plus or minus standard deviation (±SD)) of cases and controls were 18.47 (0.72) and 17.09 (1.2) years, respectively. After adjustment for other variables, predictors of teenage pregnancy included: lower monthly income below ~$25 and ~$25–50 (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 23.96; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 4.89–117.29 and AOR = 4.91; 95%CI 1.64–14.66, respectively); aged 18–19 years (AOR = 16.75; 95%CI 6.45–43.47); being married (AOR = 15.91; 95%CI 7.43–34.04); not communicating with parents on reproductive health issues (AOR = 6.52; 95%CI 3.12–13.64) and having a history of maternal teenage pregnancy (AOR = 4.14; 95%CI 1.84–9.33).ConclusionThe factors associated with teenage pregnancy in our study were lower family monthly income, being married, being in the 18–19 year age group, not communicating with parents on reproductive health issues and having a maternal history of teenage pregnancy. Programs that encourage parent-teenage communication of reproductive health issues, starting from early adolescence, in order to build skills to prevent pregnancy in the late teenage years, are very important. In addition, multi-pronged activities across sectors that encourage delayed marriage and improve health service utilizations for girls are essential.

ObjectiveFocused antenatal care became the recommended type of antenatal care following the publication of a World Health Organization trial on antenatal care where it was discovered that the traditional antenatal care approach do not necessarily improve pregnancy out-come. This study was aimed to assess timing of first focused antenatal care booking and associated factors among pregnant mothers. Facility based cross sectional study was used in the randomly selected health facilities. Total 239 pregnant women who visited antenatal clinic were selected using simple random sampling technique and data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 software.ResultsThe study shows that only 41% of pregnant mothers booked timely antenatal care and the median duration of pregnancy at the first visit was 5 months. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gravidity and information received on correct time of antenatal care booking from health care provider were significantly associated with timely initiation of antenatal care. Late antenatal care booking remains high in the study area and this indicated that provide information, education and communication to create community awareness is remarkable and implementing community based discussion up to the local level will be crucial.

ObjectivesPost-abortion contraceptive service is pivotal for the prevention of unwanted pregnancy and alleviation of its complication. Worldwide half of the pregnancy is unplanned, whereas unwanted pregnancy ends up with abortion. This study assessed post-abortion contraceptive uptake and associated factors among abortion service users at health institution in Shire town, North Ethiopia. Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 15/2016 to March 15, 2017, in Shire town. Data were collected using systematic random sampling technique. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were done to determine the association of each independent variable with the dependent variable.ResultsOverall post-abortion contraceptive utilization in this study was 61.5%. Married [AOR 2.59, 95% CI (1.16, 5.65)], completed College education [AOR 5.69, 95% CI (1.61, 20.11)], previous contraceptive used [AOR 3.62, 95% CI (1.77, 7.40)], counseling of family planning [AOR 3.53 95% CI (1.69, 7.37)], grand multipara [AOR 7.91, 95% CI (1.66, 37.74)] and public health institution [AOR 5.95, 95% CI (3.03, 11.72)] were significantly associated with the post-abortion contraceptive utilization. In this study, post-abortion contraceptive utilization was about two-third. Being married, had been completing a college education, had been receiving family planning counseling, previous contraceptive usage, abortion care service at public health institution, and being grand multiparty were determinants of post-abortion contraceptive utilization.

ObjectivesPartograph is one of the best effective obstetric tools used to monitoring labor and prevent prolonged or obstructed labor which accounts for about 22% of maternal deaths in Ethiopia. This study was aimed to assess partograph utilization and associated factors among obstetric care givers. Facility based cross sectional study was used in the randomly selected health facilities. Total 220 obstetric care givers were selected using simple random sampling technique. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the associations of each explanatory variable with the outcome variable. Finally, odds ratio with its 95% confidence interval and p-value of 0.05 was used to identify significant variables.ResultOut of 198 obstetric care providers, 73.3% used partograph to monitor progress of labor. Those who were diploma holders (AOR = 3.8, CI = 2.2–6.2), receiving basic emergency obstetrics and new born care training (AOR = 5.6, CI 1.1–28.5), age between 20 and 29 years-old (AOR = 0.1, CI = 0.01–0.50), and male health care providers (AOR = 0.37, CI = 0.44–0.95) were factors significantly associated with partograph utilization. Partograph utilization in this study was below the WHO recommendation. Especial emphasizes and interventions should be given to increase partograph utilization.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-3814-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background: Ankle-foot pain is a significant public health problem in nurse professionals and has great burdens to the individuals, healthcare systems, and community at large. However, there is limited evidence on the prevalence of ankle-foot pain and its associated factors among nurses in Ethiopia. Thus, the finding of this study will help to address health problems resulting from ankle-foot pain among nurses.

Globally breast cancer is the most common of all cancers. Since risk reduction strategies cannot eliminate the majority of breast cancers, early detection remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. This paper, therefore, attempts to assess the awareness of breast cancer and its early detection measures among female students in Mekelle University, Ethiopia. An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected female students. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select the participants. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS version 16. In this study, 760 students participated making a response rate of 96 percent. Respondents with good knowledge score for risk factors, early detections measures and warning signs of breast cancer were 1.4 percent, 3.6 percent and 22.1 percent respectively. The majority 477 (62.8 percent) of participants practiced self-breast examination. In conclusion the participants had poor knowledge of risk factors, early detection measures and early warning signs of breast cancer.Therefore, the Ministry of health of Ethiopia together with its stalk holders should strengthen providing IEC targeting women to increase their awareness about breast cancer and its early detection measure.

Abstract:Background: Breast cancer is the most common of all cancers in women both in the developed and less developed world. Its incidence rate varies from 19.3 per 100,000 women in Eastern Africa to 89.7 per 100,000 women in Western Europe. Globally, it claims the lives of 508, 000 women per year. Since risk reduction strategies cannot eliminate the majority of breast cancers, early detectionremains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. Health education and communication have been found critical to promote breast cancer prevention and screening strategies. However, to our knowledge no previous research was done in the study area and awareness about breast cancer among Ethiopian women is not well documented. This paper, therefore, attempts to assess the level of Knowledge of breast cancer and its early detection measures among female students in Mekelle University, Ethiopia.Method:An institution based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2013 to June, 2013 on randomly selected female students.. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. A pre-tested structured questionnaire wasused to collect the data. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS. Frequencies,means, and standard deviations were computed.Result: In this study, 760 studentsparticipated making a response rate of 96%. The finding of this study showed that respondents with good knowledge score for risk factors, early detections measures and warning signs of breast cancer was 1.4%, 3.6% and 22.1% respectively. The majority 477 (62.8%) of participants practiced self-breast examination. Of the respondents who practiced breast selfexamination, 201 (71.0%) reported that they practiced monthly.Conclusion: The finding of this study revealed that respondents had poor knowledge of risk factors, early detection measures and early warning signs of breast cancer. This implies that the health care system particularly policy makers, health care managers, health care professionals and community based health extension workers are giving limited attention to non-communicable disease like breast cancer despite their public health burden. Moreover, very few of the respondents have practiced self and clinical breast examination. Therefore, the Ministry of health of Ethiopia and other stalk holders should promote provision of information, education and communication targeting women, family, and the general community to increase their awareness about breast cancer and its early detection measure.

No abstract