Factors associated with preterm birth among mothers who gave birth at public Hospitals in Sidama regional state, Southeast Ethiopia: Unmatched case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth remains the commonest cause of neonatal mortality, and morbidity representing one of the principal targets of neonatal health care. Ethiopia is one of the countries which shoulder the highest burden of preterm birth. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess factors associated with preterm birth at public hospitals in Sidama regional state. METHODS: Facility-based case-control study was conducted at public hospitals in Sidama regional state, from 1st June to 1st September/2020. In this study, a total of 135 cases and 270 controls have participated. To recruit cases and controls consecutive sampling methods and simple random sampling techniques were used respectively. Data were collected using pretested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, and checklist via chart review. Data were entered using EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Independent variables with P-value < 0.25 in the bivariate logistic regression were candidates for multivariable logistic regression analysis. Finally, statistical significance was declared at P-value < 0.05. RESULTS: The response rate was 100%. Rural resident (AOR = 2.034; 95%CI: 1.242, 3.331), no antenatal care service utilization (AOR = 2.516; 95%CI: 1.406, 4.503), pregnancy-induced hypertension (AOR = 2.870; 95%CI: 1.519, 5.424), chronic medical problem during pregnancy (AOR = 2.507; 95%CI: 1.345, 4.676), urinary tract infections (AOR = 3.023; 95%CI: 1.657, 5.513), birth space less than 2 years (AOR = 3.029; 95%CI: 1.484, 6.179), and physical intimate violence (AOR = 2.876; 95%CI: 1.534, 5.393) were significantly associated with preterm birth. CONCLUSION: Most of the risk factors of preterm birth were found to be modifiable. Community mobilization on physical violence during pregnancy and antenatal care follow-up are the ground for the prevention of preterm birth because attentive and critical antenatal care screening practice could early identify risk factors. Besides, information communication education about preterm birth prevention was recommended.

Prevalence and its predictors of intimate partner violence against pregnant women amid COVID-19 pandemic in Southwest Ethiopia, 2021: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Preventive measures like staying-at-home and social distancing are among the top strategies on the list to avert the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 and its consequences. However, this strategy brings off another shadow pandemic of intimate partner violence against women, and no study has been done to assess the magnitude of intimate partner violence against pregnant women during the pandemic in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence of intimate partner violence and its predictors in Southwest Ethiopia amid the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted, from 15 June 2021 to 15 August 2021, on a total of 590 pregnant women recruited by systematic random sampling techniques. Pretested structured questionnaires were used to collect data, and the data were entered using EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS version 24. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of intimate partner violence. Finally, statistical significance was declared at a p-value <0.05. RESULTS: The prevalence of intimate partner violence was 39.2%. Of this, 29.8%, 26.8%, and 22.2% of the pregnant women had experienced physical, sexual, and emotional intimate partner violence, respectively. Being illiterate (adjusted odds ratio = 2.36, 95% confidence interval: 1.33-4.19), having illiterate husbands (adjusted odds ratio = 4.79, 95% confidence interval: 2.69-8.55), household decisions made by the husband alone (adjusted odds ratio = 4.91, 95% confidence interval: 3.74-9.33), and pandemic-induced economic downturns (adjusted odds ratio = 9.03, 95% confidence interval: 5.18-15.98) were the predictors that were significantly associated with intimate partner violence. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of intimate partner violence against pregnant women during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has been found to be high in the study area. Thus, more efforts should be tried to integrating intimate partner violence screening in maternal and child healthcare services, and early identification of high-risk individuals, and continuous community-based awareness creation activities are recommended.

Determinants of oral rehydration salt utilization among under-five children with diarrhea in Ethiopia: A multilevel mixed-effect analysis.

BACKGROUND: Oral rehydration salt therapy is a critical intervention to reduce mortality and morbidity of children with diarrheal diseases. However, it remains underused in low- and middle-income countries. In Ethiopia, only less than half of children with diarrheal diseases were treated with oral rehydration salt solution. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the determinants of oral rehydration salt utilization among children with diarrhea in Ethiopia. METHOD: A secondary data analysis was done using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. A weighted sample of 1227 children who had diarrhea in the last 2 weeks with their index mothers during the 5 years survey was included in the study. A multilevel mixed logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with oral rehydration salt utilization. Finally, statistical significance was declared at p-value < 0.05. RESULT: The overall prevalence of oral rehydration salt utilization for children with diarrhea was 29.5%. In this study, age of mother ⩾35 (adjusted odds ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval = 1.05, 2.64), mothers with formal education (adjusted odds ratio = 1.52, 95% confidence interval = 1.09, 2.11), media exposure (adjusted odds ratio = 1.72, 95% confidence interval = 1.25, 2.38), living in Metropolitan regions (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa (adjusted odds ratio = 1.76, 95% confidence interval = 1.14, 2.69)), and small peripheral regions (Afar, Gambela, Somalia, Benishangul-Gumuz (adjusted odds ratio = 1.69, 95% confidence interval = 1.22, 2.34)) were associated with higher odd of oral rehydration salt utilization for children with diarrhea. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that the age of mothers, educational status of the mother, media exposure, and regions of mothers were determinants of oral rehydration salt utilization for children with diarrhea. Therefore, media advertising regarding diarrhea management should be scaled up to increase oral rehydration salt utilization for children with diarrhea. Special attention to socio-cultural constraints or beliefs regarding diarrhea management should be given to mothers from large to center (Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities, and People's Region, and Harari) regions.

Individual and community-level factors of perinatal mortality in the high mortality regions of Ethiopia: a multilevel mixed-effect analysis.

BACKGROUND: Even though perinatal mortality has declined globally; it is still the major public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa countries. Ethiopia is one of the sub-Saharan countries which contribute the highest-burden of perinatal mortality with a devastating rate in some of the regions. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the determinants of perinatal mortality in the high mortality regions of Ethiopia. METHOD: A secondary data analysis was done using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data. The outcomes of 4120 pregnancies reaching ≥ 7 months of gestational age were considered for the analysis. A multilevel mixed logistic regression model was fitted to identify the predictors of perinatal mortality. Finally, a statistically significant association was declared at a p-value of ≤ 0.05. RESULT: The study found that birth interval < 2 years (AOR = 3.71, 95%CI:2.27, 6.07),having no antenatal care (AOR = 2.43,95%CI:1.15,5.38), initiating breastfeeding after 1 h(AOR = 4.01,95%CI:2.49,6.51), being distant from health institutions (AOR = 1.99, 95%CI: 1.24, 3.22), having previous terminated pregnancy (AOR = 4.68, 95%CI:2.76,7.86), being mothers not autonomous(AOR = 1.96, 95%CI:1.19,3.20),being no media exposure (AOR = 2.78, 95%CI:1.48,5.59),being households ≤ 4 family sizes (AOR = 4.12, 95%CI:2.19,7.79), having ≥ 6 parity (AOR = 2.48, 95%CI:1.21, 5.22) were associated with a high odds of perinatal mortality. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that birth interval, antenatal care, time for breastfeeding initiation, distance from health institutions, previous history of terminated pregnancy, maternal autonomy, media exposure, family size, and parity were predictors of prenatal mortality. Therefore, programmatic emphases to maternal waiting service utilization for mothers distant from health institutions and media advertising regarding the complications related to pregnancy, childbirth and on its respective direction that the mothers should follow could reduce perinatal mortality in high mortality regions of Ethiopia.

Multilevel analysis of factors associated with HIV among women of reproductive age (15-49 years old) in Ethiopia: Bayesian approach.

BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Sub-Saharan Africa regions are the most affected regions and accounted for 67% of HIV infections worldwide, and 72% of the world's AIDS-related deaths. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of HIV and identify factors associated with it among women of reproductive age in Ethiopia. METHODS: This study was conducted based on the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys data. The data were weighted using sampling weight for probability sampling and non-response to restore the representativeness of the data and get valid statistical estimates. Then, a total of 14,161 weighted sample women were used to investigate the study. Finally, a multilevel analysis was done based on the Bayesian approach to identify factors associated with HIV among women of reproductive age in Ethiopia. RESULTS: This study showed the prevalence of HIV among reproductive age group women was 0.85%. Being rural resident (adjusted odds ratio = 0.20; 95% CrI = 0.1-0.4), secondary education level (adjusted odds ratio = 0.20; 95% CrI = 0.1-0.4), rich wealth status (adjusted odds ratio = 4; 95% CrI = 3-6), married women but living separately (adjusted odds ratio = 2.3; 95% CrI = 1.2-4.5), long distance from the health facility (adjusted odds ratio = 0.4; 95% CrI = 0.3-0.5), and exposure to media (adjusted odds ratio = 2.9; 95% CrI = 1.8-4.7) were significantly associated with HIV. CONCLUSION: Being rural residents, women whose marital status is separated, wealthy, travel a long distance to get health facility, and are exposed to media are risky to be infected by HIV. Whereas being a rural resident and educated are preventive factors for HIV. Therefore, the government of Ethiopia and the ministry of health should consider those factors when they design HIV prevention and control strategies.