Wasting and its associated factors among children aged from 6 to 59 months in Debre Tabor town, Amhara region of Ethiopia, 2019: a multicentre community-based cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Wasting is acute malnutrition that has harmful short-term consequences for children and is determined by an inadequate diet. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of wasting among children aged 6-59 months in Debre Tabor town, Ethiopia. DESIGN: This study was a community-based cross-sectional. SETTING: The study was conducted at Debre Tabor town, Ethiopia. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 436 children aged 6-59 months participants were enrolled. OUTCOME MEASURES: A weight-for-height z-score, which is below -2 SD of the WHO median standard curve, was used to measure wasting. Logistic regression analyses were done to see which independent variables have an association with the dependent variable and a p value of <0.05 was considered significant at the 95% CI. RESULTS: The result revealed that wasting in children aged 6-59 months was 6.2%. Children in the age group of 6-11 months were 4.3 times more likely to have wasted than those in the age group of 24-59 months (adjusted OR (AOR): 4.3; 95% CI: 1.5 to 12.5). Similarly, parents who have poor wealth status in their family are 3.1 times more likely to have wasted children than those who have rich wealth status in their family (AOR: 3.1 (1.01 to 9.35)). Moreover, mothers who gave birth at the age group of 20-25 years were 4.3 times more likely to have wasted children than those who gave birth at an age group of greater than 30 years (AOR: 4.3 (4.3 (1.56 to 12.5)). CONCLUSION: Wasting is still an important public health problem for children in the age group of 6-59 months. The age of the child, the wealth status of the family, and giving birth before 20 years of age were significantly associated with wasting. Therefore, the government of Ethiopia should pay further attention to the wealth status of the family; create awareness among the mothers regarding childhood undernutrition care, and design further nutritional intervention programmes.

Magnitude of birth asphyxia and its associated factors among live birth in north Central Ethiopia 2021: an institutional-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The leading cause of neonatal death worldwide is birth asphyxia. Yearly, in the first month of life, 2.5 million children died around the world. Birth asphyxia is a major problem, particularly in developing nations like Ethiopia. The goal of this study was to determine the magnitude of birth asphyxia and the factors that contributed to it among neonates delivered at the Aykel Primary Hospital in north-central Ethiopia. METHODS: From August 1 to August 31, 2021, a hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 144 live births. An Apgar score less than 7 in the fifth minute of birth authorized the diagnosis of birth asphyxia. Variable contention (P < 0.250) for multivariable analysis was determined after data examination and cleaning. Then, to identify important factors of birth asphyxia, a multivariable logistic regression model with a p-value of 0.05 was developed. Finally, a significant relationship between a dependent variable and independent factors was defined as a p-value less than 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The majority of the mothers, 71.53%, received at least one Antenatal care visit, and more than half of the newborns were male (62.50%). The percentage of neonates that had asphyxia at delivery was 11.11% (95% CI: 6.3 -16.9%). Male newborns were 5.02 times more probable than female newborns to asphyxiate [AOR: 5.02, 95% CI (1.11-22.61)]. Mothers who have not had at least one Antenatal Care visit were 3.72 times more likely to have an asphyxiated newborn than those who have at least one Antenatal Care visit [AOR: 3.72, 95%CI (1.11-12.42)]. Similarly, mothers who had an adverse pregnancy outcome were 7.03 times more likely to have an asphyxiated newborn than mothers who had no such history [AOR: 7.03, 95% CI (2.17-22.70)]. CONCLUSION: Birth asphyxia in newborn has come to a standstill as a major public health issue. The sexual identity of the newborn, Antenatal Care visits, and a history of poor pregnancy outcomes were all found to be significant risk factors for birth asphyxia. These findings have great importance for various stakeholders who are responsible for reducing birth asphyxia; in addition, policymakers should establish and revise guidelines associated to newborn activities and workshops.

Potential determinant factors of under-five mortality in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Even though child mortality decreased greatly (44%, since 1990), children in developing countries are eight times more likely to die before they attain their five years birthday. When comparing under-five mortality around the world, the African including Ethiopia and Southeast Asian regions showed an uneven child death rate. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify the potential determinant factors of under-five mortality in the Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. METHODS: Statistics from a national representative cross-sectional survey of the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) of the year 2016 were used. Data was collected from the population of all under-five children in randomly selected enumeration areas of the Amhara region of Ethiopia. To investigate the relationship between the dependent variable (under-five mortality) and various independent factors, inferential statistics such as binary logistic regression and multiple logistic regressions were used. In multivariable analysis, statistically significant variables in binary logistic regression analysis, i.e. (p-value 0.250), were entered, and P-value 0.050 was considered significant at 95% CI. RESULTS: The survey was included 977 children under the age of five and more than half of children in the family (68%) were ≤ 4. The findings showed that children whose mothers had no formal education were 2.59 times more likely to die than children whose mothers had formal education [AOR: 2.59(1.12-5.99)]. Similarly, children who did not receive breastfeeding from their mothers were 3.61 times more likely to die than children who received breastfeeding from their mothers [AOR: 3.61(1.83-6.19)]. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The number of children in the family, as well as the mother's educational status and current breastfeeding status, were all found to be important factors in under-five mortality in the study area. As a result, the potential determinants of under-five mortality should be addressed as part of a program targeted at lowering childhood mortality.

Clinical Non-Adherence and Its Associated Factors Among HIV-Positive Pediatric Patients Attending HIV Care in South Gondar Zone Public Health Facilities, Northwest Ethiopia, 2021.

BACKGROUND: Poor clinical adherence is the main factor that hinders ART adherence level in children and its ultimate effect on viral load suppression and decreasing morbidity and mortality of children. Although data from different settings are necessary to tackle such types of problems, the pieces of evidence are limited in the case of clinical adherence level. Therefore, this study was intended to assess clinical non-adherence and its associated factors among HIV-infected pediatrics on highly active antiretroviral therapy. METHODS: A multi-center cross-sectional study was conducted from July 1 to August 30, 2021, among HIV-infected children receiving ART in the South Gondar Zone. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, and reviewing patients' documents using a structured checklist. Data were entered into Epi-data version 4.6 and exported to the Statistical Package for Social Science version 23 for analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between the factors and the outcome variable. The significance of variables was declared when a p-value was less than 0.05. RESULTS: From 422 participants, 383 have involved in the study making the response rate of 90.7%. Almost half of the study participants 190 (49.6%) were girls. Two hundred ninety-one (76%) of caretakers were biological mothers, and 203 (53%) did not have adherence supporters. About 179 (46.7%) of caretakers did not disclose the status of the child about the illness. The overall prevalence of non-adherence among children on ART was 31.9% (95% CI: 27.2-36.6). Rural residency, diagnostic status non-disclosure, no adherence supporter, having no biological caretaker and co-morbid illness were significantly associated with clinical non-adherence of HIV positive children. CONCLUSION: Clinical non-adherence among children among HIV-positive children attending care in south Gondar zone health facilities is unacceptably high. Attention shall be given to HIV-positive pediatrics who reside in rural areas, whose status was not disclosed, had no adherence supporter, had a non-biological caretaker, and had comorbidity to have good clinical adherence on ART service.

Underweight and Its Associated Factors Among Children 6-59 Months of Age in Debre Tabor Town, Amhara Region of Ethiopia, 2019: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Even-thought malnutrition is a double burden now time being; under-nutrition among under-five year's children is a common public health problem, and it is one of the main reasons for the death of children in developing countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of underweight among children age 6-59 months at Debre Tabor town Ethiopia, 2019. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on an underweight using cluster and systematic random sampling. A sample of 608 participants completed a questionnaire designed for the study. The questionnaire was coded and entered into Epi info version 7.2.0.1 and exported to SPSS 20.0 for data analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to compute family wealth status. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done to see which independent variables have an association with the dependent variable, and a P value of less than 0.05 was considered as significant at 95% CI. RESULTS: The result revealed that underweight for children age 6-59 months was 17.4% (95% CI: 14.5-20.6%). Fathers who have primary education levels were 2.13 times more likely to have under-weighted children than those who have secondary and above education levels [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 2.13; 95% CI: 1.19-3.80]. Similarly, parents who have poor wealth status in their family 2.2 times more likely to have underweight children than those who have rich wealth status in their family [AOR: 2.2 (1.21-4.09)]. However, on the sex of children being males were 1.8 times more likely to become underweight than females [AOR: 1.8 (1.14-2.85)]. CONCLUSION: Among under-nutrition problems of children age 6-59 months, underweight is still an important public health problem. Therefore, family education and family wealth status should be modified, and responsible bodies design further nutritional intervention programs.