Poor adherence by tuberculosis (TB) patients to their medication contributes not only to the worsening of their TB situation but also paves a way for incidence of drug resistance. This study, hence, aims to explore factors contributing for non-adherence of TB treatment among TB patients in Sodo Woreda, Gurage Zone, Southern Ethiopia. A qualitative study, which included 22 in-depth interviews from four health centers and seven health posts, was conducted from February 25 to April 27, 2014. Although the drugs were given free of charge, many patients were unable to adhere to their treatment because of one or a combination of the following factors; lack of adequate food, poor communication between healthcare providers and patients, beliefs in traditional healing system, unavailability of the service in nearby health facilities, side-effect and pill burden of the drugs, stigma and discrimination. The patients take their anti-TB medications under difficult circumstances and experienced a wide range of interacting factors. This, in turn, has resulted for non-adhered treatment taking behavior by many patients. Health professionals and policy makers should be aware of such factors and initiate sustained educational campaigns directed towards all parties in the study area to obtain a good success with TB treatment.

Objective: This study aims to assess the magnitude and associated factors of poor medication adherence among diabetic and hypertensive patients visiting public health facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A multi-site cross-sectional design was conducted from 1^st through 30^th of August 2020 at public health facilities of the study area. Adult outpatients with T2DM and hypertension visiting hospitals and health centers were included in the study. A proportion to size allocation method was used to determine the required sample size per facility. Data was collected using the 8-item Morisky medication adherence scale. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze data. A 95% confidence interval and p≤0.05 statistical significance was considered to determine factors associated with poor medication adherence. Results: A total of 409 patients were included in the present study. About 57% of the patients reported that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed negative impacts on either of their follow-up visits, availability of medications, or affordability of prices. And, 21% have reported that they have been affected in all aspects. The overall magnitude of poor medication adherence was 72%. Patients with extreme poverty were more likely to have good medication adherence (AOR: 0.59; 95%C.I: 0.36–0.97), whereas attendance to a health center (AOR: 1.71; 95%C.I: 1.02–2.85), presence of comorbidity (AOR: 2.05; 95%C.I: 1.13–3.71), and current substance use history (AOR: 11.57; 95%C.I: 1.52–88.05) predicted high odds of poor adherence. Conclusion: Over a three-fourth of the patients, in the study setting, have poor adherence to their anti-diabetic and antihypertensive medications. Health facility type, income level, comorbidity, and current substance use history showed a statistically significant association with poor adherence to medication. Stakeholders should set alternative strategies as perceived impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on medication adherence are high in the study area.

Objective: To compare mifepristone plus a misoprostol-combined regimen with misoprostol alone in the medical abortion of first trimester pregnancy.Methods: An internet-based search of available literature was performed using text words contained in titles and abstracts. PubMed/Medline, Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, and Google scholar were used to locate English-based articles published until December 2021. Studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected, appraised, and assessed for methodological quality. The included studies were pooled for meta-analysis, and the results were presented in risk ratio at a 95% confidence interval.Findings: Nine studies comprising 2,052 participants (1,035 intervention and 1,017 controls) were considered. Primary endpoints were complete expulsion, incomplete expulsion, missed abortion, and ongoing pregnancy. The intervention was found to more likely induce complete expulsion irrespective of gestational age (RR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.14–1.25). The administration of misoprostol 800 mcg after 24 h of mifepristone pre-treatment in the intervention group more likely induced complete expulsion (RR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.17–1.30) than after 48 h. The intervention group was also more likely to experience complete expulsion when misoprostol was used either vaginally (RR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.09–1.17) or buccally (RR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.16–1.30). The intervention was more effective in the subgroup with a negative foetal heartbeat at reducing incomplete abortion (RR: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.26–0.78) compared with the control group. The intervention more likely reduced both missed abortion (RR: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.08–0.91) and ongoing pregnancy (RR: 0.12; 95% CI: 0.05–0.26). Fever was less likely to be reported (RR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.12–0.89), whereas the subjective experience of bleeding was more likely to be encountered (RR: 1.31; 95% CI: 1.13–1.53) by the intervention group.Conclusion: The review strengthened the theory that a combined mifepristone and misoprostol regimen can be an effective medical management for inducing abortions during first trimester pregnancy in all contexts. Specifically, there is a high-level certainty of evidence on complete expulsion during the early stage and its ability to reduce both missed and ongoing pregnancies.Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42019134213, identifier CRD42019134213.

Objectives: The irrational use of reserved antimicrobials, such as ceftriaxone, is one of the global public health issues particularly to low income countries like Ethiopia, leading to high costs of treatment or therapeutic failure. The purpose of the present study, thus, is to evaluate the appropriateness of ceftriaxone utilization in the medicine wards of general hospitals in Addis Ababa, with reference to the standard treatment guideline of Ethiopia for general hospitals. Methods: An institution based retrospective cross sectional study design was conducted in the internal medicine wards of Hayat and Zewditu Memorial hospital from 20 January to 20 February, 2014. Medication records of all patients who were admitted and prescribed with ceftriaxone during the previous one year to the study period were evaluated in reference to the Ethiopian Standard Treatment Guideline (STG 2010) for general hospitals. Results: The proportion of patients who received ceftriaxone was 59.3 % and 49 % in the public & the private hospital, respectively. Pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis were the common diagnoses in which ceftriaxone was prescribed in both hospitals. Maintenance fluids were the top ranked co-prescribed drugs in either hospital. Only 48.9 % in the public hospital and 44.6 % of records in the private hospital showed overall ceftriaxone use compliance to the guideline. Days of hospital stay was associated with appropriateness of ceftriaxone therapy. Conclusions: Even though ceftriaxone is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in both hospitals, appropriateness of its use, according to the Ethiopian standard treatment guideline, was less than expected. This was so mainly from its indication and duration of therapy. Increasing the duration of hospital stay, however, showed to improve the appropriateness of ceftriaxone utilization.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the healthrelated quality of life of patients with T2DM and hypertension attending public health facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st through 30th August 2020 at the selected institutions. Health facilities were chosen purposively based on patient load. Participants were drawn after proportional to size allocation. A translated EQ-5D-3L, and EQ-VAS instrument was used to collect the data. Analysis was done using SPSS v.26.0. Both parametric and non-parametric models were applied in the analysis.RESULTS: Of the 409 participants included, the majority were in the age group of 46-60 (36.0%), females (56.0%), from hospitals (54.8%), jobless (25.4%), and married (63.3%). Over two-thirds of the patients reported no problems with self-care, usual activity, and depression/anxiety. All dimensions showed an increasing proportion of moderate to severe problems in the age group beyond 45. Facility type, comorbid condition and age showed a statistically significant score difference for QoL. The overall prevalence of any problem was 59.0%. Education level, visit to a health center, and marriage showed lower odds of affected HRQoL whereas, lower monthly income and presence of comorbidities were opposite.CONCLUSION: HRQoL of patients in the study settings was suboptimal and below the general population. Attributes, such as education, facility type, marital status, income level, and comorbid status have a statistically significant association with HRQoL. Arrangement of a safe and quality health services is paramount, especially, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of T2DM in Ethiopia is on the rise according to certain studies. Appropriate management approaches are required to achieve desired goals of therapy in the clinical setup. This study was conducted to assess the treatment pattern and the factors associated with BP and FPG control among patients with T2DM in Federal Police Referral Hospital. METHOD: An institution based cross sectional study was conducted from 15th October 2016 to 15th January 2017. A Systematic random sampling technique was employed in selecting the study participants. Data was collected using semi-structured interview and visiting medication records. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Out of a total of 414 participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, 361 were successfully interviewed and considered for further analysis. Target BP level was achieved in 206(57.1%) of the patients, whereas the proportion of hypertensive diabetics who attained the recommended BP target was 19.4% (n=40). Of the 361 participants who were checked about their current FPG level, only 142(39.3%) were found to be <130mg/dl. However, 87(24.1%) participants were found to control both BP and FPG levels. Gender, military status, comorbidity, type of therapy and dietary adherence showed a statistically significant association with outcome variables. CONCLUSION: The proportion of participants with T2DM who achieved target BP, FPG or both was suboptimal. A comprehensive approach that involves targeted education on self-management strategies, individualized treatment plans, and continuous evaluation of treatment outcomes should be practiced. KEYWORDS: Blood pressure, Cross sectional study, Ethiopia, Fasting plasma glucose control, type 2 diabetes mellitus