Hand washing practice among health care workers in Ethiopia: systemic review and meta-analysis, 2020.

OBJECTIVE: Hand washing with soap and water is the single most weapon against infectious agents. Proper hand washing is not only reduces nosocomial infection, but also prevents the spread of current global concern Novel Corona viruses (COVID-19) and other viral illnesses like cold and flu. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess hand washing practice among health care workers in Ethiopia. METHODS: In the current meta-analysis, the target variables search from different databases, like Google Scholar, African Journals OnLine, PubMed, and Scopus. All necessary data extracted by using a standardized data extraction format. Heterogeneity across the studies was evaluated using the I2 index and Cochran's Q test. A random effect model computes to estimate the pooled proportion of hand washing practice among health care workers. RESULTS: In this meta-analysis, we included fifteen observational studies summarize the proportional of hand washing practice among health care workers. In the current study, the pooled hand washing practices among Ethiopian was 57.87% (95% CI: 44.14-71.61). Subgroup analysis conduct to identifying the sources of heterogeneity. CONCLUSION: The overall pooled proportion of hand washing practice among health care workers was low. Hand washing with water and soap is recommended at least for 20 s to prevent contagious disease like Corona viruses.

Disclosure of HIV-positive status to sexual partner and associated factors among ART users in Mekelle Hospital.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the disclosure of HIV-positive status and its associated factors to sexual partners among patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic follow-up at Mekelle Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at Mekelle hospital. Samples of 324 individuals were selected by using systematic random sampling techniques from July 1 until July 30, 2013. The data were collected by trained data collectors through a pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were cleaned, coded, entered, and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 Windows program. Descriptive statistics and binary and multivariable regression analysis with 95% confidence interval was carried out and P-value less than 0.05 used to determine the significant association. RESULTS: A total of 324 people on ART care follow-up were interviewed with 100% response rate. The overall HIV status disclosure to sexual partner was 57.4%. Among those who disclosed their HIV status, 58% of them told their partner after 1 month after diagnosis. The study showed that there is significant association between knowing HIV status of sexual partner (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =16.69, 95% CI: 5.4, 51.65), duration of HIV-related care follow-up (AOR =5.48, 95% CI =2.17, 13.80), and discussion before HIV testing (AOR =4.33, 95% CI =1.43, 13.08), with HIV-positive status disclosure to sexual partner. CONCLUSION: An HIV-positive status disclosure to a sexual partner in this study was lower than what was reported in other studies in Ethiopia. The duration of HIV-related care follow-up, knowing partner's HIV status, and prior discussion were the main factors that affected the practice of HIV-positive status disclosure to their sexual partners.

Disclosure of HIV seropositive status to sexual partners and its associated factors among patients attending antiretroviral treatment clinic follow up at Mekelle Hospital, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Disclosure of human immune deficiency virus (HIV) positive status has a key role in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. The failure of people infected with HIV to disclose their positive status can expose their sexual partners to the virus. Identifying the factors associated with status disclosure is a priority issue as high proportion of people living with HIV do not discloses their status and to design appropriate strategy to deal with the issues this involves. The aim of this study was to assess the disclosure and its associated factors of HIV positive status to sexual partners among patients attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic follow up at Mekelle Hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution based cross sectional study was conducted at Mekelle hospital. Samples of 324 individuals were selected by using systematic random sampling techniques from July 1st until the 30th July 2012. The data was collected by trained data collectors through pretested semi structured questionnaire. The collected data was cleaned, coded, entered and then analysed using SPSS version 16.0 windows program. Descriptive statistics, binary and multivariable regression analysis with 95% confidence interval was carried out and p value less than 0.05 used to determine the significant association. RESULTS: A total of 324 people on ART care follow up were interviewed with 100% response rate. The overall HIV status disclosure to sexual partner was 57.4%. Among those who disclosed their HIV status 58.0% of them told their partner after one month of initial diagnosis. The study showed that there is significant association between knowing HIV status of sexual partner [AOR = 16.69, 95% CI (5.4, 51.65)], duration of HIV related care follow up [AOR = 5.48, 95% CI (2.17, 13.80)] and discussion before HIV testing [AOR = 4.33, 95% CI (1.43, 13.08)] with HIV positive status disclosure to sexual partner. CONCLUSIONS: A HIV positive status disclosure to a sexual partner in this study was lower than what was reported in other studies in Ethiopia. The duration of HIV related care follow up, knowing partners HIV status and prior discussion were the main factors which affect the practice of HIV positive status disclosure to their sexual partners.