Covid-19 Vaccine Side Effects and Its Associated Factors Among Healthcare Workers at Dessie Hospital, Ethiopia.

Background: Vaccines are a powerful choice to stop disease outbreaks, including covid-19. However, people are hesitant to take vaccinations due to uncertainty about side effects. So, this study aimed to assess covid-19 vaccine side-effect and its associated factors among healthcare workers in Dessie comprehensive specialized hospital, in Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Dessie Comprehensive and Specialized Hospital among 351 vaccinated healthcare workers from April 25 to May 25, 2021. Self-administrated questionnaires were used by consented health workers. Variance inflation factor (VIF) was used to assess the multicollinearity of independent variables. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression were used to identify significant factors of vaccine side effects. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was reported as the effect size. Statistical significance was considered at p-value <0.05. Results: Overall, of vaccinated healthcare workers, 56.98% (95% CI, 50.86-61.26%) experienced at least one side effect. The majority of the side effects were fever (44.44%), headache (39.03%), fatigue (27.35%), injection site pain (25.93%), and nausea (24.22%). Healthcare workers with (≥10 years) of work experience (AOR: 3.74, 95% CI, 1.32-10.59), Hesitancy to take the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine (AOR: 3.01, 95% CI, 1.82-4.99), underlying chronic disease (AOR: 14.41, 95% CI, (5.07-40.92)), being on antihypertensive medication (AOR: 0.15; 95% CI (0.02-0.93)), and unsafe perception of vaccine safety (AOR:3.50; 95% CI, 1.43-8.57) were independent factors of Covax vaccine side effect development. Conclusion: Overall, common vaccine side effects were identified in healthcare workers who have taken the Covax vaccine. Healthcare workers with (≥10 years) of work experience, Hesitancy to take the first dose, unsafe perception of vaccine safety, and underlined chronic disease were predictors of vaccine side effect occurrence. So, providing vaccine-related information to the community to be vaccinated is mandatory to reduce hesitancy and flaws regarding vaccine safety.

Time to under-five mortality and its predictors in rural Ethiopia: Cox-gamma shared frailty model.

BACKGROUND: Under-five mortality (U5M) is one of the most important and sensitive indicators of the health status of the community. Despite there having been a substantial reduction in U5M since 1990, its rate is still high in Sub-Saharan African countries. Thus, this study aimed to assess time to under-five mortality and its predictors in rural Ethiopia. METHODS: This study utilized a secondary analysis of the 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). A total of 9,807 weighted under-five children selected at different stages were included in the analysis. The Kaplan-Meier and Cox's-gamma shared frailty models were used to estimate survival time and to identify predictors of under-five mortality, respectively. An adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) along with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was used to measure the effect size and direction of the association. RESULTS: The study indicated that 6.69% (95% CI: 6.13, 7.30) of children died before celebrating their fifth birthday in rural Ethiopia. Of all the deaths, the median time to death was 27 months. After controlling the effect of cluster and other confounding factors, female sex (AHR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.52, 0.75), ever born greater than five children (AHR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.83), very large size at birth (AHR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.03 1.71), very small size at birth (AHR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.82), twin pregnancy (AHR = 3.5, 95% CI: 2.47, 4.88), not ever breastfeeding (AHR = 11.29, 95% CI: 9.03, 14.12), unimproved latrine (AHR = 3.44, 95% CI: 1.91, 6.17), covered by health insurance (AHR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.70) were predictors of under-five mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Still under-five mortality was high in rural Ethiopia as compared to the global under-five mortality rate. In the final model, sex of a child, the total number of children ever born, children's size at birth, type of pregnancy, breastfeeding, type of toilet, and being covered by health insurance were significant predictors of under-five mortality. Further emphasis should be given to twin and not breastfeeding children, as well as households' better encouraging membership of community health insurance and utilization of improved latrines.

Survival Time and Associated Factors Among Adults Living with HIV After Initiation of HAART in South Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia: A Retrospective Cohort.

BACKGROUND: Antiretroviral therapy consistently improves the survival of people living with HIV and contributes to preventing the development of new infections. Studies of antiretroviral therapy programs in Africa have shown a high mortality rate during the first 6 months after initiation of HAART in rural health facilities. This study looks at survival time and associated factors among adults with HIV in south Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A 5-year retrospective cohort study design was conducted using patient records among 746 adults living with HIV/AIDS. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select respondents after proportional allocation was made for all health facilities included in the study. Epi-info version 7 and STATA 12 were used for data entry and analysis, respectively. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to estimate mean survival time and a life table was used to estimate survival probability after initiation of HAART. RESULTS: A total of 746 respondents were followed for a median of 60 months. There were 102 (13.67%) deaths yielding an overall mortality rate of 2.59/1,000-person year observation (95% CI=0.02136-0.031736). Age of respondents >43 years (AHR=2.790; 95% CI=1.495-5.206), bedridden (AHR=9.57; 95% CI=3.87-23.64), past TB treatment (AHR=0.86; 95% CI=0.46-0.609), baseline WHO stage IV (AHR=3.02; 95% CI=1.77-5.18), pneumonia after ART start (AHR=3.6; 95% CI=1.4-9.2), INH prophylaxis (AHR=2.58; 95% CI=1.232-5.188), ambulatory functional status (AHR=5.86; 95% CI=2.67-12.86), and disclosure status (AHR=0.423; 95% CI=0.261-0.685) were significant predictors for survival time after initiation of HAART among adults living with HIV. CONCLUSION: The mortality rate was highly (13.67%) observed in the early phase of antiretroviral treatment. Being ambulatory and bedridden, age of respondents >43 years, past TB treatment, baseline WHO stage IV, pneumonia after HAART, INH prophylaxis, and disclosure status were independent predictors of mortality.