Ethiopia, the second-most populous country in Africa after Nigeria, has more than one hundred million people and is one of the world’s fastest-growing countries in terms of economy. It has 12 major river basins with an annual renewable flow of 122 billion m³. The country is facing increasing pressures on water resources both in terms of quantity and quality. Many researchers have highlighted that water pollution is severe and increasing particularly in the environs of Addis Ababa because of complex anthropogenic factors. The objective of this review was to synthesize the key results of research to date on the water quality in the environs of Addis Ababa and use that information to highlight management gaps, challenges, and future research needs. According to the studies reviewed, water pollution pressures result from rapid urbanization and industrial expansion without adequate solid waste management and wastewater treatment facilities, and agricultural activities. The problems are compounded by law enforcement difficulties. Trace metal contamination of rivers, streams, reservoirs, and their bioaccumulation in vegetables highlight the urgency of addressing water pollution in the upper Awash catchment. Most studies agreed that water from reservoirs, rivers, and streams in the environs of Addis Ababa is unfit for human consumption as it contains a wide range of pollutants that could affect community health. Hence effective pollution detection, mitigation measures, and monitoring including the development of bioassessment tools, together with cost-effective management measures are urgently required to reverse the decline in water quality in Ethiopia in general and in the greater metropolitan area of Addis Ababa and the upper Awash basin in particular.

The Koka hydropower dam is one of the oldest large dams in Ethiopia. Damming is one of the anthropogenic activities impacting the distribution of aquatic life forms. However, to date, little attention has been focused on the dam’s impacts on the river macroinvertebrate assemblages in Ethiopia. The objective of this study was, therefore, to assess the impacts of the Koka hydropower dam on macroinvertebrate assemblages in the Awash River basin in Ethiopia. In the three river reaches on the Awash River (upstream near the source of the river, midstream above the dam, and downstream below the dam), a total of 15 sites were selected for sampling. The statistical analysis tested the null hypothesis that there are no differences in macroinvertebrate assemblage patterns or a range of univariate metrics between the three river reaches. Additional analyses involved the identification of taxa responsible for significant differences in macroinvertebrate structure (e.g., percentage similarity) and an exploration of the variables that structure macroinvertebrates (e.g., canonical correspondence analysis). In the upstream, midstream, and downstream reaches of the Awash River, we recorded a total of 73 taxa belonging to 43 families and 12 orders. Trichoptera was the dominant order in the upstream river reach, whereas Diptera dominated the midstream and downstream river reaches. The diversity of macroinvertebrates decreased from upstream to midstream and downstream. The three river reaches differed significantly in Shannon and Simpson diversity indices, % EPT, EPT taxa abundance, total taxa richness, evenness index, % collectors, and % scrapers. In this study, we observed that macroinvertebrate assemblage differences and spatial patterns were significantly associated with values of river flow changes (velocity), phosphate concentration, and substrate index. The findings of this study have broad implications for the assessment of the impacts of dam construction on the rivers of the studied region in the future.

Background: Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) is affecting many people. Chronic patients are highly vulnerable to contracting an infection. Most people recover within a week, but chronic patients can face severe illness or death. The increasing of cases, complications, and mortality demands compulsory preventive measures. Therefore, this study was designed to identify major preventive practices and associated factors. Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was employed from November to December 2020 among diabetics and HIV/AIDS follow-up clients in Dessie referral hospital. Data were entered into EpiData manager 4.6.0 version and exported to Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25.0 for data cleaning and analysis. Logistic regression analysis was done and an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used for determining the strength of association. Results: Data were collected from 426 participants with a mean age of 46.54 years. The overall poor prevention practice rate of COVID-19 among diabetic and HIV/AIDS follow-up clients was 68.8% 95% CI (64.6– 72.8%). Factors significantly associated with poor prevention practice were femaleness (AOR; 1.61; 95% CI; 1.03– 2.51), illiterate [AOR; 2.59; 95% CI; 1.33– 5.09]), family size greater than four (AOR; 2.06; 95% CI; 1.32– 3.23), absence of health professional in the household (AOR; 1.79; 95% CI; 1.13– 2.84), not having health insurance (AOR; 1.85; 95% CI; 1.18– 2.89) and urban residence (AOR; 0.38; 95% CI; 0.18– 0.79). Conclusion: The overall proportion of prevention practice towards COVID-19 among diabetic and HIV/AIDS follow-up clients was poor. Illiteracy, having a family size greater than four, not having health professionals in the household, not having health insurance and urban residency were associated with poor prevention practices. Therefore, continuous health educations about good preventive behavioral practice should be enhanced by the health professionals.

Macroinvertebrate distribution and community structure in lotic water are influenced by a range of natural environmental variables and other anthropogenic factors, particularly related to the construction of dams. Hydropower dams can alter natural flow regimes, sediment transportation, hydrochemical water quality, channel morphology, water temperature, and nutrient cycles and physically obstruct the dispersal and the migration of macroinvertebrates and fish communities. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of the Koka Hydropower Dam on benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage structures. Environmental, hydromorphological, and macroinvertebrate community data were collected along the course of the Awash River in the upper Awash basin. A total of 2305 macroinvertebrates assigned to 11 orders and 41 families were collected from 15 sites in the upstream, midstream, and downstream reaches. Ephemeroptera (32.2%), Diptera (24.6%), and Trichoptera (20.2%) represented 77% of the total abundances.The canonical correspondence analyses, multivariate test, showed that river velocity and phosphate concentration explained the majority of the variation (60%) in macroinvertebrate community structure among the three reaches possibly due to the dam’s impact in addition to other forms of impairment differences between reaches. The water quality categories of the river reach based on the Shannon diversity index at upstream, midstream, and downstream locations were high, moderate, and low, respectively. Based on the macroinvertebrate family-level information, this study found that the water quality degradation was most severe in the downstream reach. Overall, detection of the specific impacts of the dam is complicated by nutrient pollution in the river.