Background The role of health care professionals among other stakeholders in early detection, assessment, documentation, and reporting as well as preventing suspected adverse reactions is very crucial to mitigate drug-related problems in health facilities. Previous reports from literatures have indicated that adverse drug reaction reporting is highly linked to the knowledge and attitude of the health care professionals. Objective To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of health care professionals about adverse drug reactions and the associated factors at selected public hospitals in Northeast Ethiopia. Methods A hospital-based quantitative cross-sectional study design was employed. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on KAP of selected health care providers by the convenience sampling method. Data were entered into Epi info version 3.5.3 and analyzed using SPSS Version 20. Association between dependent and independent variables was found by using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis where p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results Out of 120 questionnaires distributed, 114 respondents filled and returned, giving a 95% response rate. From total, 49 (43%) were nurses, 26 (22.8%) physicians, 17 (14.9%) pharmacy professionals, 12 (10.5%) health officers, and 10 (8.8%) midwives. About 86 (75.44%) study participants had an inadequate knowledge towards ADR reporting, and half of participants failed to report the adverse drug reactions they encountered. But the majority of participants (84, 73.68%) had a favorable attitude towards ADR reporting. Nurses [AOR = 0.069, 95% CI (0.018–0.275)], health officers [AOR = 0.10, 95% CI (0.015–0.647)], and physicians [AOR = 0.14, 95% CI (0.03–0.64)] were found to be less likely to have adequate knowledge on ADR reporting compared to pharmacy professionals. Conclusion Even though the majority of health care professionals had a positive attitude, they had inadequate knowledge and poor practice towards ADR reporting.

HIV prevalence was remarkably high among sex workers of Addis Ababa. Condom use was higher, and HIV prevalence lower, in sex workers using condoms not only for prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, but also for contraceptive purpose. This finding is of particular interest for its implications for prevention strategies among sex workers in the developing world.

Background Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) is a standard of HIV management to suppress viral load and delay progression to AIDS. However, questions have been raised about the use of antiretroviral therapy and how it affects quality of life (QoL) of people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHA). The study hence aimed to assess the QoL of PLWHA who were taking HAART at Mizan-Tepi University Teaching Hospital (MTUTH) and identify factors associated with QoL. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted among PLWHA receiving HAART at MTUTH from March 04-April 1, 2018. Patients were recruited consecutively and interviewed with structured questionnaire. A data abstraction tool was used to extract data from patient medical records. Quality of life was assessed using the World Health Organization Quality of Life HIV-BREF (WHOQOL-HIV-BREF) standard tool. Data was entered to Epi-Info version 3.5.3 and analyzed using SPSS version 22 for windows. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was fitted to identify factors associated with QoL. A statistical significance was established at a p value <0.05. Results A total of 240 participants with the mean age of 35.11 (SD = 9.08) years were included in the study. This study found that 57.1% of the patients had high global score of QoL. Patients with normal current health (AOR = 3.38, 95% CI = 1.56-7.31)) and having family support (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI = 1.51-6.46) were positively associated with high global score of QoL, while patients with low HAART adherence (AOR = 0.40, 95%, CI = 0.19-0.86) were negatively associated with high global score of QoL.

Background Although tenofovir (TDF)/emtricitabine (FTC)/efavirenz (EFV) and zidovudine (ZDV)/lamivudine (3TC)/efavirenz (EFV) are used as preferred first line regimen, their head-to-head comparison in terms of their efficacy and tolerability was limited. This review aimed to synthesize the best available evidence on the comparative efficacy and tolerability of the two regimens. Methods Seven sites and databases in addition to Google search until August 20, 2016, were searched. Only randomized clinical trials conducted on adult population were included in this study. Our primary outcome was viral load suppression while secondary outcomes were death and tolerability. Undetectable viral load is defined as <50 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) ribonucleic acid (RNA) copies/ml. Joanna Briggs institute meta-analysis of statistics assessment and review instrument (JBI-MAStARI) and critical appraisal and data extraction tool were applied for critical assessment and data extraction, respectively. We performed a random effect meta-analysis to pool the relative risk (RR) for viral load suppression (<50 HIV RNA copies/ml and <400 HIV RNA copies/ml), tolerability, and death. Result Data was extracted from four articles, which included a total of 2381 participants. We found superior viral load suppression among tenofovir (TDF) arm compared to zidovudine (ZDV) arm. Tenofovir arm achieves viral load <50 HIV RNA copies/ml (RR = 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.04, 1.21], I2 = 0%) higher than zidovudine arm. Similarly TDF arm is superior in viral load suppression to <400 HIV RNA copies/ml (RR = 1.19, 95% CI [1.11, 1.27], I2 = 0%). Moreover, TDF based regimens were more likely to be tolerated than ZDV based regimens (4 trials, 2381 participants (RR = 1.06, 95% CI [1.02, 1.10], I2 = 51%)). However, forest plot of death shows that it was not significant (RR = 0.91, 95% CI [0.51, 1.62]). Conclusion The use of TDF/FTC/EFV as first line regimen for naïve HIV-1 infected adult patient showed superior viral load suppression and tolerability as compared to ZDV/3TC/EFV. In order to compare the death outcome of both ZDV/3TC/EFV and TDF/FTC/EFV further research is needed.

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