The proportion of chronic kidney disease and its associated factors among adult diabetic patients at Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

Background: Chronic kidney disease is defined as a progressive loss of kidney function occurring over several months to years. Programs to detect chronic kidney disease, linked to comprehensive primary and secondary Prevention strategies are rare in our country. This study aimed to assess the proportion of chronic kidney disease and its associated factors among adult diabetic patients. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was used. Adult Diabetic Patients (≥18 years of age) coming to the medical outpatient clinic were considered as study participants and they were selected using a systematic random sampling technique. Data were checked for completeness, then entered into Epi Data 3.1, and exported to SPSS Version 24 for analysis. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, crosstab, and median were utilized. chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration equations for calculating estimated glomerular filtration rate Simple binary logistic regression was conducted to identify candidate variables for multiple binary logistic regression at a p-value of <0.2. Those variables whose P-value <0.05 in multiple binary logistic regression were considered as significantly associated variables with chronic kidney diseases. Result: A total of 329 individuals were participating in the study. Of which 199 (60.5%) were males. The median age of participants was 39 (IQR; 28: 56) years. Of the total participants, 125(38%) had no formal education. The proportion of chronic kidney disease was 16.7% (95% CI: 12.8%-21%), The study also found that older age (AOR = 3.02; 95%CI: 1.37, 6.69), pre-existing hypertension (AOR = 4.85; 95%CI: 2.07, 11.3), current systolic blood pressure ≥140mmHg (AOR = 6.33, 95%CI: 3.34, 11.99), and presence of Albuminuria (AOR = 2.98, 95%CI: 1.26, 7.09) were associated with chronic kidney disease. Conclusions: The proportion of CKD among diabetic patients in Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital was relatively high as compared to other studies. Health care professionals should consider strict follow-up for older age patients, patients with co-morbidities like hypertension, and for those patients with Albuminuria.

Compliance of Private Pharmacy Retail Outlets to Narcotic Drug Regulations in Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional and Simulated Client Study Method.

BACKGROUND: Inappropriate use of narcotic drugs is a growing worldwide health challenge. The problem is even worse in Sub-Saharan Africa where organized supply chain regulations on dispensing and stock management are poor for controlling these global challenges. METHODS: A mixed method, descriptive cross-sectional and simulated client study design was used from September 10, 2020 to November 26, 2020 to assess the extent of utilization and compliance of narcotic drug dispensing in private pharmacy retail outlets of Gondar and Bahir Dar town of Amhara region, Ethiopia. A total of 107 private pharmacy outlets were on duty. But in simulated study, purposive sampling is a method that prioritizes study units having the data of interest. RESULTS: A total of 107 private pharmacy retails outlets were included in the survey. The average compliance to the controlled prescription regulation of Ethiopia in all pharmacy outlets (107) of the five drugs were calculated and found to be poor, 23.9% (SD = 18.3%). Compliance to strong narcotics is extremely low, 3.3 % for pethidine and 8% for morphine. Religion of the professionals has significant association with compliance to the prescription of narcotic drugs (p < .001). DISCUSSION: In the era of narcotic epidemics, as a result of growing global inappropriate use of controlled drugs, the finding of this study gives an insight for a serious and strict regulation in managing and controlling the overall distribution of the narcotic drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The compliance of the private retail pharmacies of Ethiopia to the regulation of controlled drugs is low.

Assessment of lifestyle changes during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 has had a global effect on people's lifestyles. Many people have developed irregular eating patterns and become physically inactive, which leads to an aggravation of lifestyle-related diseases and unhealthier lifestyles; these, subsequently raise the severity of coronavirus disease 2019. This study aimed to assess lifestyle changes during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Gondar town, North West, Ethiopia. METHOD: Community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among households at Gondar town from June to August 2021. The study participants were selected by a systematic random sampling technique from proportionally allocated kebeles. Data were collected using face-to-face interview techniques and were entered and analyzed by using a statistical package for the social sciences version 24; P-values < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. RESULT: Overall, 348 study participants were included in the study. Among those respondents, 52.3% (182) were female study participants and the mean age of the respondents was 30.95±14.4. In this study, there was a significant decrement in non-homemade food from 20.4% to 13.4% at (P = <0.001). Concerning water intake, 11.5% (40) of respondents consumed ≥8 cups/day before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and the percentage increased to 14.7% (51) during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (p = 0.01). Of the participants, 46% participants were reported never engaging in any physical activity before the coronavirus pandemic, and the percentage decreased to 29.9% during the pandemic (P = 0.002). The respondents also exhibited increment tension in large from 4.9% to 22.7% before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, respectively. Furthermore, about 6.3% of the study participants slept badly before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemics and the effects of sleeping badly and restlessly increased to 25.9% during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic (P = <0.001). CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrates that there is a noticeable alteration in food consumption, food choices, regular mealtime, sleeping habits, mental exhaustion, and practice of physical activity.

Availability and Utilization of the WHO-Recommended Lifesaving Medicines for Under-Five Children at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

According to the World Health Organization report, 5.4 million under-five children died, which is similar to under-five mortality rate of 39 deaths per 1000 live births. This rate is higher in sub-Saharan Africa with 76 deaths per 1000 live births. More than 1 out of every 2 deaths is because of diseases that can be managed with drug of low-cost and high quality. Institutional-based cross-sectional survey was conducted from January to February 2021, at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 24 was used for data analysis. The results were presented using Figures, tables, and texts according to the nature of the data. The overall average availability of priority medicines was 75% on the day of visit and the average stock-out duration in the last 6 months was 23.85 days. Availability and utilization of priority medicines for the management of antiretroviral infections, Vitamin A deficiency, malaria, and diarrheal cases were high, whereas availability and utilization of suggested medication for neonatal sepsis were very low. A significant proportion of priority diseases was managed by non-priority medications. Medicines supply sources of the country, ministry of health, policymakers as well as facility managers should work in collaboration toward ensuring sustainable and consistent availability of priority medicines through the country. Continues in-service training of healthcare professionals is also mandatory to update themselves with newly developed guidelines, standards, and recommendations.

Prevalence and associated factors of herbal medicine use among adult diabetes mellitus patients at government hospital, Ethiopia: An institutional-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with HM use among DM patients. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 395 diabetic patients visiting the diabetes care service of Debre Tabor General Hospitalfrom August 1 to September 28, 2020. Interview guided self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. RESULTS: Out of 395 diabetic patients, 231(58.5%) participants were used herbal medicine. The most dominant herbal products used were M.stenoptela (53.2%), N. sativa (42.0%), Z. officinale (32.5%), A. sativum (20.8%), A. vera (13.4%), P.gracilis(10.4%), T.schimperi(7.5%), V. amygdalina (5.2%), T. foenumgraecum(3.5%),and D.penninervum(2.2%).The odds of HM use in female participants were 1.98 times (AOR=1.98, 95% CI=1.72, 3.25) higher compared to male participants. The odds of HM use among participants who develop DM complications were 1.77 times (AOR=1.77, 95% CI=1.03, 2.83) higher than in participants without DM complications. The odds of HM use among participants with a family history of DM were 2.89 times (AOR=2.89, 95% CI=1.42, 3.19) higher than in participants without a family history of DM. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of herbal medicine use among diabetic patients was high. Educational level, gender, residence, educational level, duration of DM, presence of DM complication, and family history of DMwere the independent predictors' of HM use.

Availability and Utilization of World Health Organization Recommended Priority Life-Saving Medicines for Under Five-Year-Old Children in Gondar Town, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Globally, more than eight million under-five children die every year because of diseases that could be treated or prevented with drug therapy. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the utilization and availability of the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested priority life-saving medicines for under-five-year-old children in Gondar town. METHODS: Institutional-based cross-sectional survey was conducted from March 2020 to May 2020 in public health centers of Gondar town. Data entry and validation were performed in EpiData 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for descriptive analysis like frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and median. RESULTS: The availability of zinc phosphate and oral rehydration salt for the diarrheal cases was 57.14% and 85.71%, respectively. The availabilities of amoxicillin dispersible tablet and gentamicin injection for the treatments of pneumonia cases were 71.43% and 42.85%, respectively, and the availability of paracetamol tablet was high (85.71%). The availabilities of artemether/lumefantrine tablet and artesunate rectal were ranged between fairly high (57.1%) to very low (28.5%), respectively, and the availabilities of zidovudine/lamivudine/nevirapine-based antiretroviral regimen was 100%, a utilization for this regimen was high (96.29%). Two (3.70%) of the surveyed cases were utilized lopinavir/ritonavir-based regimen. The utilization of priority medicines was low for pain management and pneumonia which was 18.5% and 48.18%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that medicine was not consistently available throughout public health centers in Gondar town. Thus, this finding suggests the integration of WHO-recommended life-saving priority medicines into the essential drug management systems and health unit logistics to raise their utilization and availability.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Unused Medications Disposal among Patients Visiting Public Health Centers in Gondar Town, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The improvement of healthcare systems has brought the subsequent increase in people access to medications. The consumers are not able to use all the dispensed medications because of various reasons. The improper disposal of these unused medicines has led to environmental contamination to an alarming extent. Therefore, the study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of unused medications disposal among patients visiting public health centers in Gondar town, Ethiopia. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 404 patients visiting public health centers in Gondar town, Ethiopia, from August to September 2021, by using standardized and a locally translated semistructured questionnaire. The data were entered and analyzed by using the SPSS version of 21.0. The variable of interest was described in the form of statements and tables. Result: Out of 404 respondents included in the study, 221 (54.7%) of them were female. More than half (226 (55.9%)) of the respondents had unused medicine at home. The common methods of disposal practice were throwing into a household garbage (150 (31.4%)), followed by flushed into toilet/sinks (88 (21.8%)). More than half (286 (70.8%)) of the respondents knew about medication waste and 239 (59.2%) of them checked their medication expiry date. More than half (215 (53.5%)) of the participants strongly agreed that unused medicine can cause potential risk at home and 279 (69.1%) of study participants strongly agreed that children are more vulnerable to the potential risk of unused medicine at home. Conclusion: There was a high practice of keeping medication at home, and most disposal approach indicated by the participants was not recommended methods. Awareness about the proper disposal of unused medicines among the public should be created. Guidelines on safe disposal are required, and an organized method of collecting unused and expired pharmaceuticals needs to be introduced.