Knowledge, attitude, acceptance, and practice of COVID-19 vaccination and associated factors complemented with constructs of health belief model among the general public in South Gondar, Ethiopia: A community-based study.

Introduction: Understanding the epidemiological dynamics of disease control, as well as the effectiveness, compliance, and success of the vaccination program requires an understanding of the local population's knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding the Corona Virus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 vaccination and associated factors among the general public. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the South Gondar Zone, among residents above the age of 18 years. The study used objective measures and the constructs of the Health Belief Model. Binary logistic regression was used and the result of the final model was presented in terms of adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), and statistical significance was taken and considered at a P-value < 0.05. Results: The study was conducted on 1,111 study participants. The mean age is 30.83 ± 7.106. About 575 (51.8%) of the respondents have good knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccination and 43.4% have a positive attitude toward COVID-19 vaccination. About 361 (32.5%) of the respondents were willing to take the vaccine if it is available and 113 (10.2%) of them were vaccinated. Participants with a positive attitude and good knowledge, those with a secondary level of education AOR = 5.70, 95% CI (2.60-12.60), those with a monthly income of >2,000 birr AOR = 6.30, 95% CI (2.50-15.60), those having a television (TV), and those who use Facebook AOR = 17.70, 95% CI (10.10-30.90) had a higher level of acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination. The Health Belief Model's constructs of perceived susceptibility AOR = 1.53, 95% CI (1.26-1.85), perceived benefit AOR = 1.49, 95% CI (1.28-1.75), and cues to action AOR = 0.54, 95% CI (0.45-0.65) were all linked to COVID-19 vaccine acceptability. Conclusion: The level of acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination is much lower. Having a positive attitude score and good knowledge score, level of education, monthly income, presence of TV, the use of Facebook, and knowing the means of transmission of COVID-19 increase the level of acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination.

Fetal Malnutrition and Associated Factors among Term Newborn Babies at Birth in South Gondar Zone Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Undernutrition contributes to almost half of all under-five deaths. Fetal malnutrition (FM) has been implicated in both short- and long-term consequences among fetal, neonatal, and adult life. Currently, Ethiopia lacks information on the prevalence of fetal malnutrition and its associated factors. This study, therefore, is aimed at assessing the prevalence of FM at birth and its associated factors in South Gondar zone hospitals, northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out from November 1, 2019, to April 30, 2020, among four hospitals of South Gondar zone. All women with their live newborns who met the eligibility criteria were included. Clinical assessment of nutritional status including other anthropometric measurements was done immediately after delivery. The newborn was declared as fetal malnourished if the clinical assessment of nutritional status cut-off point is less than 25. Data were collected by trained clinical midwives. Besides bivariate regression analysis, a multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to identify associations. RESULTS: A total of 1592 mothers with their live newborns participated in this study. The prevalence of fetal malnutrition was 21.7% (95% CI: 19.7-23.9). Intimate partner violence (AOR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.52-2.56), placental weight less than 512 grams (AOR: 2.76, 95% CI: 2.13-3.57), and small for gestational age (AOR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.46-2.62) were significantly associated with fetal malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of fetal malnutrition was a public health problem in this study. Intimate partner violence, placental weight, and small for gestational age were found the most significant variables. To avert fetal malnutrition, positive family relation and additional or balanced nutritional supplementation during pregnancy are critical. We recommend researchers do clinical follow-up research which comprises a detailed investigation of placental, maternal, and fetal factors including genes.

Effects of Vitamin D on COVID-19 Infection and Prognosis: A Systematic Review.

INTRODUCTION: Vitamin D status is related to risks of influenza and respiratory tract infections. Vitamin D has direct antiviral effects primarily against enveloped viruses, and coronavirus is an enveloped virus. The 2019 coronavirus disease had a high mortality rate and impacted the whole population of the planet, with severe acute respiratory syndrome the principal cause of death. Vitamin D can adequately modulate and regulate the immune and oxidative response to infection with COVID-19. The goal of this systematic review was thus to summarize and decide if there were a link between vitamin D status and COVID-19 infection and prognosis. METHODS: The protocol of this study is documented in the Prospero database and can be accessed with the protocol number CRD42020201283. PubMed and Google Scholar were used for a literature search from August 2020 to September 2020. We restricted the year of publication of reviewed articles to 2019-2020, and the selected language was English. Studies that used secondary data, feedback, or analysis of reviews were removed. To assess the standard of studies included, the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) method was used. RESULTS: Of the nine studies reviewed, seven (77.8%) showed that COVID-19 infection, prognosis, and mortality were correlated with vitamin D status. CONCLUSION: Most of the articles reviewed showed that blood vitamin D status can determine the risk of being infected with COVID-19, seriousness of COVID-19, and mortality from COVID-19. Therefore, maintaining appropriate levels of Vitamin D through supplementation or natural methods, eg, sunlight on the skin, is recommended for the public to be able to cope with the pandemic.

Prevalence and Determinants of Stunting, Wasting, and Underweight Among School-Age Children Aged 6-12 Years in South Gondar Zone, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Underweight, wasting, and stunting are the commonest nutritional disorders among children, especially in developing countries. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and determinant factors of underweight, wasting, and stunting among school-age children in 2019. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the five special districts of South Gondar Zone, among 314 school-age children. WHO AnthroPlus software was used to build Z-scores from anthropometric measurement. The data were analyzed by SPSS Version 20. The degrees of association were assessed using adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and 95% confidence interval during multivariable logistic regression. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Of the total study participants, 232 (77.3%) were from public schools. The mean±standard deviation (SD) of height of children was 132.9±9.8 cm, and the mean±SD weight of children was 27.7±5.8 kg. The prevalence of stunting, wasting, and underweight was 11%, 6.3%, and 11.4%, respectively. Students who ate their breakfast rarely were 8-times more likely to be underweight than those who ate their breakfast always (AOR=7.9, 95% CI=4.8-14.8). Those who were sick in the past 2 weeks were more likely to be underweight than their counterparts (AOR=7.3, 95% CI=2.8-14.4). Those who never consume milk or milk products were 6.5 (AOR=6.5, 95% CI=1.7-23) times more likely to be stunted than those who consumed this always. Sickness in the past 2 weeks prior to data collection was significantly associated with thinness (AOR=6 0.9, 95% CI=4.1-10.1). CONCLUSION: The overall prevalence of wasting, stunting, and underweight was a mild public health problem in the study area.

Minimum Acceptable Diet and Associated Factors Among HIV-Exposed Children Aged 6-24 Months in Debre Tabor Town, Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Minimum acceptable diet is a composite indicator of minimum dietary diversity and minimum meal frequency. World Health Organization's newborn child feeding and HIV guidelines suggestbeginning complementary nourishments at six months, and breastfeeding for HIV-exposed children. HIV infected mothers may be more sensitive on feeding practices to protect their children from contracting the disease. On the other hand, HIV infection is associated with higher risk food insecurity which may affect feeding practices of children. But in Ethiopia, there is lack of evidence on extent of minimum acceptable diet of HIV-exposed children. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among HIV-exposed 6-24 months aged children. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in health institutions of Debre Tabor town. The study was conducted on 287 mother-child pairs attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) at public health facilities. Descriptive statistics like frequency, proportions, mean and standard deviation were computed. Multi-variable logistic regression was run to identify independent predictors of the outcome variable (minimum acceptable diet). A p-value <0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. RESULTS: About 76% (95% CI: 70.8-80.8) and 58.2% (95% CI: 53.0-68.3) children were fed with appropriate meal frequency and recommended dietary diversity, respectively. One hundred (34.8%) (95% CI: 29.3-40.4) of children were fed a minimum acceptable diet and 59.9% (95% CI: 54.0-65.9) of children consumed iron rich or fortified food. Out of the total, 203 (71.0%) (95% CI: 66.1-76.2) of the mothers had good knowledge on minimum dietary diversity and meal frequency feeding practices. In multi-variable logistic regression poor knowledge with AOR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.17-0.58, maternal workload with AOR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.19-0.75 and inadequate information about child feeding from health care providers with AOR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.26-0.81 were statistically significant predictors of minimum acceptable diet. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that the proportion of children who received minimal acceptable diet was lower than that of WHO recommendation for good practice. Knowledge, maternal workload and information related to complementary feeding were associated with low minimum acceptable diet.