RESUMO
Ethiopia is one of the countries with the highest under-five child mortality rates, with malnutrition remaining the major cause of death. Overall, 10% of children in Ethiopia are wasted, and 3% are severely wasted. To assess the treatment outcomes and associated factors among children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) at Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Harar, Eastern Ethiopia, data of 162 under-five children admitted from January to December, 2020, at Hiwot Fana Specialized University hospital were collected retrospectively from 1 January to 20 February 2021. Pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to extract data from medical records. The data was entered into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21 for analysis. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. In this study, 162 participants were included and 54% were males. The majority (80.2%) of children were newly admitted and 49.7% had less than 7 days of hospital stay, 70.99% recovered from malnutrition, and 42.6% had marasmus. Amoxicillin and gentamycin combination (47.5%) was the most commonly prescribed intravenous antibiotics. Having diarrhoea (AOR = 22, 95% CI: 2.86-169.46), presence of comorbidities such as malaria (AOR = 103.29, 95% CI: 7.42-1437.74) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (AOR = 42.72, 95% CI: 4.47-408.23) were statistically associated with poor recovery from severe malnutrition. More than 70% of children with SAM had good treatment outcomes. Child vaccination history, length of hospital stay, admission weight for height, and presence of comorbidities such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, measles, HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis were factors associated with bad malnutrition and treatment outcomes.
RESUMO
Background: Ethiopia is one of the world's oldest countries, with a fascinating history of herbal medicine. However, there is a lack of evidence for the regulatory framework for herbal medicines and its implementation. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the policy governing herbal medicines regulation and its implementation in Ethiopia. Methods and Materials: An archival review, a semi-structured interview with key informants, a cross-sectional study involving traditional healers, and an institution-based cross-sectional survey were conducted from June 15, 2020 to December 25, 2020. The qualitative data was transcribed using Microsoft Word 10, whereas the quantitative data was recorded and analyzed using SPSS 20 computer statistical software. The study's findings are summarized using descriptive statistics. In addition, multiple logistic regressions were performed to identify factors affecting regulation of herbal medicine (HM) in Ethiopia. Variables with p<0.05 were considered potential predictors. Results: According to all key informants, Ethiopia has yet to adopt distinct policies and laws on herbal medicine that may provide an independent regulatory framework. Similarly, the majority of respondents in an institution-based survey indicated that there were no defined policies (n=52, 57.3%), laws (n=53, 59.6%), or registration systems (n=67, 75.3%) for herbal medicine. However, traditional healers claimed that they are licensed by either the Woreda Health Bureau (n=21, 95.5%) or the Regional Health Bureau (n=1, 4.5%) to legally practise traditional herbal medicine. Besides, no traditional healer is licensed by Ethiopian Food and Drug Administration (EFDA) or Ministry of Health. Conclusion: Ethiopia has yet to adopt distinctive herbal medicine policies and laws to provide an independent herbal regulatory system. Despite the fact that the EFDA has a mandate for herbal medicine regulation, traditional healers are licensed by the woreda and regional health bureaus, thus more investigation is needed.