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Background In Ethiopia, thousands of seasonal migrant workers travel from non-malaria or mild malaria transmission areas to malaria-endemic areas for seasonal farm activities. Most of these migrants stay in the farm areas for land preparation, plowing, planting, weeding, and harvesting for a specific period and return to their living areas. However, there is limited evidence of how seasonal migrant workers contribute to the transmission of malaria to new or less malaria transmission areas. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at the departure phase of seasonal migrant workers in the Metema district from September 2018 to October 2019. A total of 1208 seasonal migrant workers were interviewed during their departure from farm sites to their homes. The face-to-face interviews were performed using a pretested structured questionnaire. Moreover, blood samples were collected from each study participant for microscopic malaria parasite examination. The data were fitted with the logistic regression model to estimate the predictors of malaria transmission. Results At departure to home, the prevalence of malaria among seasonal migrant workers was 17.5% (15.6–19.45%). Approximately 71.80% (177/212) of the cases were Plasmodium falciparum, and 28.20% (35/212) were Plasmodium vivax. Most seasonal migrant workers 934 (77.4%) were from rural residences and highlanders 660 (55%). Most 661 (55.4%) of the migrants visited two and more farm sites during their stay at development corridors for harvesting activities. Approximately 116 (54.7%) asymptomatic malaria cases returned to the Dembia 46 (21.7%), Chilaga 46 (19.8%) and Metema 28 (13.2%) districts. Conclusion In this study, asymptomatic malaria remains high among seasonal migrant workers departing to home from malaria endemic areas. This may fuel a resurgence of malaria transmission in the high lands and cause challenges to the country's malaria prevention and elimination efforts. Hence, tailored interventions for seasonal migrant workers could be in place to enhance malaria control and elimination in Ethiopia, such as asymptomatic malaria test and treat positive cases at departure and transit, and integration between malaria officers at their origin and departure for further follow-up to decrease any risk of spread at the origin.

Background: Coordinating outbreak investigations requires effective interagency communication.Important tasks include making the initial notifications, establishing roles and responsibilities for each jurisdiction, providing updates on the progress of the investigations, revising priorities for the investigation, and establishing the next steps. The major goal of surveillance activities is to identify and eliminate preventable causes of morbidity and mortality. Outbreak response basically entails preparedness which helps to establish arrangements in advance to enable timely, effective and appropriate responses to specific potential hazardous events or emerging disaster situations that might threaten society/environment Objective: To review lessons learned from the October 2018 Wolayta Zone yellow fever outbreak management in SNNPR, Ethiopia.Methods: Qualitative research approach, with Thematic Analysis. Purposive sampling method was used. Data were collected through FGDs, in-depth interviews, observation and document reviews Results : Among the main findings of the review is the weakness of the surveillance to detect case; the surveillance system was not that much effective for early detection of viral hemorrhagic fevers and there was knowledge gap to detect in the existing. The Review found out further that preparedness plan was weak, failing to consider the outbreak for VRAM. However, it is worth-noting that the Review showed that despite late detection, a rapid response team was set up and was able to save the lives of many during the outbreak. The findings further showed there was good coordination among various stakeholders at different levels and with satisfying sharing of roles and responsibilities.Conclusion: Based on the major findings, it may be concluded that the surveillance system was weak to detect yellow fever outbreak occurrence in Wolaita Zone. A major gap is therefore the inability to include the case to the IDSR weekly report. Once the case was confirmed, the response to the crisis was fairly commendable. Even though there was a confusion on identifying the first case, after the confirmation of the first case, the case management went as per the standard guideline and SOPs, helping save so many lives through availing the service free of charge 4The importance of experiential learning is highlighted when the situation is getting more multifaceted as in the yellow fever (Carroll, 1995). One method used to establish and promote mindfulness and safety in an organization is the after-action review (Allen et al., 2010). An After-Action Review (AAR), is a discussion of an event that enables health professionals and colleagues with similar or shared interests to discover what happened, why it happened, and how to sustain strengths and improve on weaknesses for future incidents (USAID, 2006).Researchers emphasize the importance of post-incident discussion (i.e., AARs) that highlights strengths, weaknesses, and near failures and describe the findings as a key feature of safety cultures for future actions...

Purpose: Malaria is a leading public health problem in Ethiopia. Every year, thousands of seasonal farm workers travel to farm corridors in Northwest Ethiopia and fall at risk of malaria infection. However, the magnitude of malaria infection and risk factors during harvest time were not well identified. This study aimed at estimating the prevalence and risk factors of malaria infection among seasonal migrant workers in Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A repeated cross-sectional study was conducted at transit and destination phases in Metema district from September 15, 2018 to October 30, 2019. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. A capillary blood sample was collected to examine infection with malaria parasite using a microscope. A multivariate logistic regression technique was used to determine risk factors. Results:The malaria prevalence at transit and destination phases among migrant workers was 13.5% (95% CI: 12.07-14.93%) and 18.7% (95% CI: 16.40-21.02%), respectively. The combined prevalence was 16.1% (95% CI: 14.67-17.63%). The odds of malaria infection among migrant workers at the destination phase was 1.5 (OR=1.5, 95% CI 1.167-1.846) times higher compared to the transit phase. Education (AOR=8.198; 95% CI: 4.318-15.564), knowledge of antimalarial drugs (AOR=2.4; 95% CI: 1.43-3.95), and use of long-lasting insecticidal nets (AOR=5.0; 95% CI: 3.34-4.43) were significantly associated with malaria infection at migration phases. Conclusion: This study showed that the burden of malaria among seasonal migrant workers was high at transit and destination phases. Malaria prevalence was higher at the destination phase compared to the transit phase. A tailored malaria prevention intervention is needed including awareness creation, screening, treatment, repellent, and prophylaxis at both phases to reduce malaria infections.

Background In Ethiopia, thousands of seasonal migrant workers used to travel from non-malaria or mild malaria transmission areas to malaria endemic areas for the purposes of seasonal farm activities. Most of these migrants are staying in the farm areas for land preparation, ploughing, planting, weeding and harvesting for specific period of time and back to their living areas. However, there is limited evidence how the seasonal migrant workers contribute in the transmission of malaria to new or less malaria transmission areas. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted at departure phase of seasonal migrant workers in Metema district from September 2018 to October 2019. A total of 1208 seasonal migrant workers were interviewed during their departure to home. Interviewed face to face interview was done using a pretested structured questionnaire. Moreover, blood samples were collected from each study participant for microscopic malaria parasite examination. The data was fitted with the logistic regression model to estimate the predictors’ of malaria transmissions. Results At the departure to home, the prevalence of malaria among seasonal migrant workers was 17.5% (15.6-19.45%). About 71.80 % (177/212) of the cases were Plasmodium falciparum, and 28.20% (35/212) Plasmodium vivax. The majority of seasonal migrant workers (77.4%) were from rural residence and highlanders (55%). Most (55.4%) of the migrants were visited two and more farm sites during their stay at development corridors for harvesting activities. About 116 (54.7%) asymptomatic malaria cases were returning to Dembiya(21.7%), Chilaga(19.8%) and Metema(13.2%) districts. Conclusion This study focuses on the prevalence of asymptomatic malaria among seasonal migrant workers during the departure phase to home. The role of seasonal migrant workers in carrying and spreading malaria parasites, as well as challenging the country's malaria prevention and elimination efforts, could be enormous. Age, occupation, origin, the number of farm sites visited, and the frequency with which LLINs used were all associated with an increased asymptomatic malaria prevalence in the study area. Tailored interventions for seasonal migrant workers could be in place by programers, partners and implementers to enhance malaria control and elimination.