School feeding in Ethiopia: a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Undernutrition is a major public health problem in developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Undernourished children are smaller and have low weight. To solve this issue, school feeding (corn-soya blend, vegetable oil) started in 1994 in Ethiopia. Thus, this scoping review aims to map the evidence relating to school feeding programs and their potential role in managing children`s nutrition in Ethiopia. METHODS: This scoping review is informed by the methodological framework of Arksey & O'Malley for scoping reviews and recommendations on the framework by Levac and colleagues. The databases searched included the Education Resources Information Centre, International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. To ensure its comprehensive search, grey literature sources were searched. The search was undertaken on 26 April 2023. Studies on school feeding, such as coverage, and studies that evaluate the educational and nutritional impacts of school feeding in Ethiopia, regardless of study designs, were included. Reports (publications) about school feeding without scientific methodology were excluded. RESULT: Twenty-seven studies were included in this review. It includes cross-sectional, prospective cohort, laboratory-based analysis, experimental, case study, and qualitative study designs. The school feeding program results were inconclusive, while some indicate a positive effect on body mass index, height, thinness, anemia, weight, dropout rate, class attendance, and enrollment. The others showed that the school feeding program did not affect stunting, thinness, weight, hemoglobin level, enrollment, attendance, dropout rate, and academic achievement. Factors affecting school feeding programs negatively include poor quality food and financial constraints. However, no literature on school feeding program coverage was found. CONCLUSION: School feeding programs improved nutritional status, and academic performance, although some studies show any effect. Poor-quality food provisions and financial constraints affect school feeding programs. There are mixed findings, and further research is required to determine the effect of school feeding programs conclusively. To ensure the program's sustainability, it should be supported by a national policy, and budget allocation is needed. In addition, more evidence should be generated to show the coverage of school feeding programs in Ethiopia.

Dietary diversity and associated factors among women of reproductive age in Jeldu District, West Shoa Zone, Oromia Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Women of reproductive age are at a higher risk of insufficient micronutrient intake due to their low dietary diversity which has an impact on child growth and development, anemia and low birth weight. However, there are no information from the study area. Hence, the study aimed to assess dietary diversity and associated factors among reproductive-age women in Jeldu District, West Shoa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2018. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was undertaken among 634 women of reproductive age. The study participants were recruited using a systematic sampling method. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire based on 24-hour dietary recalls. The data were checked, coded, and entered into EpiData version 3.1 before being exported to SPSS Version 21 for analysis. Descriptive statistics like frequency standard deviation, mean and proportions were computed., both binary and multivariable logistic regressions were run at 95 percent confidence intervals. A P-value of <0.05 was used to declare a statistically significant association between dietary diversity and explanatory variables. RESULTS: The proportions of women who consumed greater than or equal to five food groups were 81.9%. Agro-ecological zone of highland (AOR = 7.71: 95% CI: 3.72, 15.99), women who have a radio (AOR; 1.87: 95% CI; 1.17, 2.99) and women's decision-making power to purchase food for household (AOR; 3.93:95% CI; 2.3, 6.71) and having own mobile phone (AOR: 1.92 (1.74, 3.16)) were statistically associated with food dietary diversity. CONCLUSION: The proportion of women who met the minimal standard for dietary variety requirements was high. The presence of radios, mobile phones, women's purchasing decision power, as well as possessing large cattle, and the agroecological zone of the participants were all important predictors of dietary variety among reproductive-age women. The local media, agriculture office, health office, and women, youth, and children office all need to pay more attention to the determinants of dietary variety in women.

Effectiveness of conditional cash transfers for uptake and retention in HIV prevention of mother-to-child transmission services in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review protocol.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review will identify and synthesize evidence on the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers for the uptake and retention in prevention of mother-to-child transmission services in pregnant and/or breastfeeding women with HIV infection in low- and middle-income countries. INTRODUCTION: Regardless of the effectiveness of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services, uptake and retention in such services remains poor in low- and middle-income countries. This review intends to evaluate the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers in improving uptake and retention in such services for pregnant and/or breastfeeding women with HIV infection. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This review will consider studies that evaluate the impact of conditional cash transfers on uptake and retention in prevention of mother-to-child transmission services in pregnant and/or breastfeeding women with HIV. Studies will compare conditional cash transfers with no intervention or other interventions. Only studies carried out in low- and middle-income countries will be eligible for inclusion. METHODS: Eight databases will be searched. Publication status will not be considered as a criterion for inclusion. Studies published in English since 2000 will be considered, because prevention of mother-to-child transmission services were first introduced in that year. Following the search, two independent reviewers will screen titles and abstracts against the inclusion criteria, critically appraise eligible studies for methodological quality using JBI critical appraisal tools, and extract data from included studies using a standardized data extraction tool. Where possible, quantitative data will be pooled using statistical meta-analysis. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42021236729.

Cognitive Factors as Determinants of Typhoon Preparedness among Public High School Students in the Philippines.

BACKGROUND: Typhoon is the most common disaster in the Philippines and lead to injury, death, and damage to property. Although public hazard education is conducted with considerable effort, the disaster preparedness of society is low. Thus, this study aimed to assess the cognitive factors of typhoon preparedness among public high school students in the Philippines. METHOD: A descriptive correlation design was used to determine the relationship between cognitive with typhoon preparedness of grades nine and ten public high schools' students. Nine hundred thirty-three students were selected through purposive sampling from disaster prone areas of the Philippines. RESULT: The grand mean and standard deviation (M = 3.03, SD = .338) result revealed that the respondents' cognitive factors in terms of perceived severity, susceptibility, self-efficacy, and response efficacy toward typhoon preparedness (M = 3.11, SD = .421) was high. The result of Pearson's r, p-value and determination coefficient showed that perceived severity, selfefficacy, and response efficacy were positively linear in the relationship to planning, mitigation and response. CONCLUSION: The respondent's cognitive factors were high toward typhoon preparedness. Cognitive factors in terms of perceived severity, self-efficacy, and response efficacy determine typhoon preparedness.