Introduction: Homeless people are a vulnerable group to sexually transmitted diseases (STD) with high prevalence of syphilis and hepatitis. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of syphilis infection and its association with risky... more
Introduction: Homeless people are a vulnerable group to sexually transmitted diseases (STD) with high prevalence of syphilis and hepatitis. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of syphilis infection and its association with risky behaviors for STDs in a sample of homeless people, and to assess the feasibility of the use of rapid syphilis test (RST) in this population. Methods: Cross-sectional study, in a convenience sample of homeless people assisted in social support services of São Paulo, between 2006 and 2007. A structured questionnaire was applied and RST was performed. In addition, a blood sample for syphilis detection was also collected. The sensitivity and specificity of the RST was estimated using conventional laboratory diagnosis (VDRL + TPHA) as reference. Results: 1,405 volunteers were included in the study. The prevalence rate of syphilis was 7.0%, and was associated with homosexual practices (ORadj 4.9; 95%CI 2.6 - 9.4), prior history of STD (ORadj 2.6; 95%CI 1.7 - 4....
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<p>Birth preparedness and complication readiness among pregnant women in Aleta Wondo worda March, 2007.</p
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Background Podoconiosis is one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTD) with the greatest potential for elimination. Despite its public health importance, podoconiosis is a poorly understood disease which led to a widespread misconception... more
Background Podoconiosis is one of the neglected tropical diseases (NTD) with the greatest potential for elimination. Despite its public health importance, podoconiosis is a poorly understood disease which led to a widespread misconception about its cause, prevention, and treatment. Even though the exact global burden is still to be measured, it is estimated that at least 4 million people are affected with podoconiosis worldwide, of which more than 1.5 million people are in Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to identify the determinants of podoconiosis in Bensa District, Sidama Regional State, Ethiopia. Methodology/Principal findings A community-based unmatched case-control study was used to identify the determinants of podoconiosis. The sample size was estimated using the double population proportion formula. An interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Blood specimens collected from cases were tested by Filariasis Test Strip to exclude l...
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These are the data sets used for analyzing demographic data for the manuscript entitled " <strong>Births and deaths in Sidama in southern Ethiopia: Findings from the 2018 Dale-Wonsho Health and Demographic Surveillance System... more
These are the data sets used for analyzing demographic data for the manuscript entitled " <strong>Births and deaths in Sidama in southern Ethiopia: Findings from the 2018 Dale-Wonsho Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS)". This data set is used for the first demographic study done in the newly established HDSS site by Hawassa University.</strong>
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Background: Raising awareness of women on danger signs of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period is crucial for safe motherhood. In Ethiopia, a country where maternal morbidity and mortality is high little is known about... more
Background: Raising awareness of women on danger signs of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period is crucial for safe motherhood. In Ethiopia, a country where maternal morbidity and mortality is high little is known about knowledge level of pregnant women on obstetric danger signs. The objective of this study was to assess pregnant women's knowledge about obstetric danger signs in Aleta Wondo district, Sidama Zone, South Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 18 – February 20, 2007, on a sample of 812 pregnant women selected from, 8 rural and 2 urban Kebeles. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data on socio-demographic characteristics, obstetric history, and knowledge about danger signs of pregnancy, childbirth and post partum period. Qualitative data was collected through focus group discussion with pregnant women and in-depth interview with traditional birth attendants. The collected da...
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Research Interests: Program Evaluation, Africa, Environmental Health, Population Health, Developing Countries, and 15 moreTreatment Outcome, Public Health, Ethiopia, Medicine, Health Systems, Population, Humans, Female, Male, Psychological Intervention, New diagnostics in Tuberculosis control, Adult, Health Services Accessibility, Health facilities, and Rural Population
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Background: Nairobi fly dermatitis is unusual form of contact dermatitis caused by pederine, ahemolymph fluid released when the insects are crushed against the skin. Patients often present with a sudden onset burning sensation and... more
Background: Nairobi fly dermatitis is unusual form of contact dermatitis caused by pederine, ahemolymph fluid released when the insects are crushed against the skin. Patients often present with a sudden onset burning sensation and cutaneous pain. The insects are belonging to the genus Paederus. These insects are found worldwide, although the concentration is higher in tropical and subtropical areas. In Ethiopia, more particularly in Wolaita, Nairobi fly dermatitis is uncommon previously. Hence, we aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and identify risk factors prone to the disease. Methods: We conducted unmatched case-control study (ratio 1:2) with 45 cases and 90 controls from April 5 to 14, 2018 in Ade charake Village, Southern Ethiopia. Cases were patients who had a history of linear dermatitis, kissing/mirror image/ lesions, multiple vesiculo-pustular lesion, extensive pustules, blistering and papulo-pustular lesions over face, neck, arms, shoulders, axillaries region, ...
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Background: Birth preparedness and complication preparedness (BPACR) is a key component of globally accepted safe motherhood programs, which helps ensure women to reach professional delivery care when labor begins and to reduce delays... more
Background: Birth preparedness and complication preparedness (BPACR) is a key component of globally accepted safe motherhood programs, which helps ensure women to reach professional delivery care when labor begins and to reduce delays that occur when mothers in labor experience obstetric complications. Objective: This study was conducted to assess practice and factors associated with BPACR among pregnant women in Aleta Wondo district in Sidama Zone, South Ethiopia. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted in 2007, on a sample of 812 pregnant women. Data were collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS for windows version 12.0.1. The women were asked whether they followed the desired five steps while pregnant: identified a trained birth attendant, identified a health facility, arranged for transport, identified blood donor and saved money for emergency. Taking at least two steps was considered being well-prep...
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Background Birth preparedness and complication preparedness (BPACR) is a key component of globally accepted safe motherhood programs, which helps ensure women to reach professional delivery care when labor begins and to reduce delays that... more
Background Birth preparedness and complication preparedness (BPACR) is a key component of globally accepted safe motherhood programs, which helps ensure women to reach professional delivery care when labor begins and to reduce delays that occur when mothers in labor experience obstetric complications. Objective This study was conducted to assess practice and factors associated with BPACR among pregnant women in Aleta Wondo district in Sidama Zone, South Ethiopia. Methods A community based cross sectional study was conducted in 2007, on a sample of 812 pregnant women. Data were collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS for windows version 12.0.1. The women were asked whether they followed the desired five steps while pregnant: identified a trained birth attendant, identified a health facility, arranged for transport, identified blood donor and saved money for emergency. Taking at least two steps was considered being well-prepare...
INTRODUCTION Understanding the epidemiology of tuberculosis is limited by lack of genotyping data. We sought to characterize the drug susceptibility testing patterns and genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis isolates in southern Ethiopia.... more
INTRODUCTION Understanding the epidemiology of tuberculosis is limited by lack of genotyping data. We sought to characterize the drug susceptibility testing patterns and genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis isolates in southern Ethiopia. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study was conducted among newly diagnosed sputum smear positive patients with tuberculosis visiting nine health facilities in southern Ethiopia from June 2015 to May 2016. Three consecutive sputum samples (spot-morning-spot) per patient were examined using acid-fast bacilli smear microscopy with all smear positive specimens having acid-fast bacilli cultures performed. M. tuberculosis isolates had drug susceptibility testing performed using indirect proportion method and were genotyped with RD9 deletion analysis and spoligotyping. Mapping of strain was made using geographic information system. RESULTS Among 250 newly diagnosed patients with tuberculosis, 4% were HIV co-infected. All 230 isolates tested were M. tuberculos...
Background Understanding the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) is limited by lack of genotyping data. We sought to characterize the drug susceptibility testing (DST) patterns and genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis (Mtb) isolates in... more
Background Understanding the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) is limited by lack of genotyping data. We sought to characterize the drug susceptibility testing (DST) patterns and genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis (Mtb) isolates in Southern Ethiopia. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted among newly diagnosed sputum smear positive patients with TB visiting nine health facilities in southern Ethiopia from June 2015 to May 2016. Three consecutive sputum samples (spot-morning-spot) per patient were examined using acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy with all smear positive specimens having AFB cultures performed. Mtb isolates had DST performed using indirect proportion method and were genotyped with RD9 deletion typing and spoligotyping. Spoligotyping International Types (SIT) and sub-lineages (clades) were assigned according to the SITVITWEB data base. Results Among 250 newly diagnosed patients with TB, 154 (52%) were male and 143 (57%) from rural areas. The prevalen...
Background: Despite the expansion of health services and community-based interventions in Ethiopia, limited evidence exists about the distribution of and access to health facilities and their relationship with the performance of... more
Background: Despite the expansion of health services and community-based interventions in Ethiopia, limited
evidence exists about the distribution of and access to health facilities and their relationship with the
performance of tuberculosis (TB) control programmes. We aim to assess the geographical distribution of and
physical accessibility to TB control services and their relationship with TB case notification rates (CNRs) and
treatment outcome in the Sidama Zone, southern Ethiopia.
Design: We carried out an ecological study to assess physical accessibility to TB control facilities and
the association of physical accessibility with TB CNRs and treatment outcome. We collected smear-positive
pulmonary TB (PTB) cases treated during 20032012 from unit TB registers and TB service data such as
availability of basic supplies for TB control and geographic locations of health services. We used ArcGIS 10.2
to measure the distance from each enumeration location to the nearest TB control facilities. A linear
regression analysis was employed to assess factors associated with TB CNRs and treatment outcome.
Results: Over a decade the health service coverage (the health facilityto-population ratio) increased by 36%
and the accessibility to TB control facilities also improved. Thus, the mean distance from TB control services
was 7.6km in 2003 (ranging from 1.8 to 25.5 km) between kebeles (the smallest administrative units) and had
decreased to 3.2km in 2012 (ranging from 1.5 to 12.4 km). In multivariate linear regression, as distance from
TB diagnostic facilities (b-estimate0.25, pB0.001) and altitude (b-estimate0.31, pB0.001) increased,
the CNRs of TB decreased, whereas a higher population density was associated with increased TB CNRs.
Similarly, distance to TB control facilities (b-estimate0.27, pB0.001) and altitude (b-estimate0.30,
pB0.001) were inversely associated with treatment success (proportion of treatment completed or cured cases).
Conclusions: Accessibility to TB control services improved despite the geographic variations. TB CNRs were
higher in areas where people had better access to diagnostic and treatment centres. Community-based
interventions also played an important role for the increased CNRs in most areas.
Keywords: public health; population health; tuberculosis control; health systems; developing countries; Africa
evidence exists about the distribution of and access to health facilities and their relationship with the
performance of tuberculosis (TB) control programmes. We aim to assess the geographical distribution of and
physical accessibility to TB control services and their relationship with TB case notification rates (CNRs) and
treatment outcome in the Sidama Zone, southern Ethiopia.
Design: We carried out an ecological study to assess physical accessibility to TB control facilities and
the association of physical accessibility with TB CNRs and treatment outcome. We collected smear-positive
pulmonary TB (PTB) cases treated during 20032012 from unit TB registers and TB service data such as
availability of basic supplies for TB control and geographic locations of health services. We used ArcGIS 10.2
to measure the distance from each enumeration location to the nearest TB control facilities. A linear
regression analysis was employed to assess factors associated with TB CNRs and treatment outcome.
Results: Over a decade the health service coverage (the health facilityto-population ratio) increased by 36%
and the accessibility to TB control facilities also improved. Thus, the mean distance from TB control services
was 7.6km in 2003 (ranging from 1.8 to 25.5 km) between kebeles (the smallest administrative units) and had
decreased to 3.2km in 2012 (ranging from 1.5 to 12.4 km). In multivariate linear regression, as distance from
TB diagnostic facilities (b-estimate0.25, pB0.001) and altitude (b-estimate0.31, pB0.001) increased,
the CNRs of TB decreased, whereas a higher population density was associated with increased TB CNRs.
Similarly, distance to TB control facilities (b-estimate0.27, pB0.001) and altitude (b-estimate0.30,
pB0.001) were inversely associated with treatment success (proportion of treatment completed or cured cases).
Conclusions: Accessibility to TB control services improved despite the geographic variations. TB CNRs were
higher in areas where people had better access to diagnostic and treatment centres. Community-based
interventions also played an important role for the increased CNRs in most areas.
Keywords: public health; population health; tuberculosis control; health systems; developing countries; Africa
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Birth preparedness and complication preparedness (BPACR) is a key component of globally accepted safe motherhood programs, which helps ensure women to reach professional delivery care when labor begins and to reduce delays that occur when... more
Birth preparedness and complication preparedness (BPACR) is a key component of globally accepted safe motherhood programs, which helps ensure women to reach professional delivery care when labor begins and to reduce delays that occur when mothers in labor experience obstetric complications. This study was conducted to assess practice and factors associated with BPACR among pregnant women in Aleta Wondo district in Sidama Zone, South Ethiopia. A community based cross sectional study was conducted in 2007, on a sample of 812 pregnant women. Data were collected using pre-tested and structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS for windows version 12.0.1. The women were asked whether they followed the desired five steps while pregnant: identified a trained birth attendant, identified a health facility, arranged for transport, identified blood donor and saved money for emergency. Taking at least two steps was considered being well-prepared. Among 743 pregnant women only a quarter (20.5%) of pregnant women identified skilled provider. Only 8.1% identified health facility for delivery and/or for obstetric emergencies. Preparedness for transportation was found to be very low (7.7%). Considerable (34.5%) number of families saved money for incurred costs of delivery and emergency if needed. Only few (2.3%) identified potential blood donor in case of emergency. Majority (87.9%) of the respondents reported that they intended to deliver at home, and only 60(8%) planned to deliver at health facilities. Overall only 17% of pregnant women were well prepared. The adjusted multivariate model showed that significant predictors for being well-prepared were maternal availing of antenatal services (OR = 1.91 95% CI; 1.21-3.01) and being pregnant for the first time (OR = 6.82, 95% CI; 1.27-36.55). BPACR practice in the study area was found to be low. Effort to increase BPACR should focus on availing antenatal care services.