Background. Blood-borne infections have been recognized as an occupational hazard for nearly 50 years. Current treatment for hepatitis B virus (HBV) is very expensive for individuals in developing countries and cannot clear infection after it progresses to the chronic stage. Thus, early screenings of people who are at higher risk like healthcare workers and vaccination and awareness creation on standard precautions (SP) to prevent transmission are mandatory. This study determined seroprevalence of HBV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among healthcare workers of Jimma University Medical Center (JUMC). Methods. An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from Nov 2015 to Jan 2016. The lottery method was used to select 240 healthcare workers. Data were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Five to ten milliliters of whole venous blood was collected from each participant. The blood samples were analyzed (tested) for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HCV antibody using automated Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Data were entered into EpiData 3.1 and analyzed by SPSS 23. Results. The positivity of HBsAg was 2.5% (6/240; 95% CI: 0.52-4.48%) and that of anti-HCV antibody was 0.42% (1/240; 95% CI: 0.0-1.23%). Most participants had good knowledge of HBV (73.9%), HCV (60.9%), and SP (82.2%) and positive attitude towards SP (88.7%), but only 42.6% had a good practice of SP. More than half (60%) and nearly half (43%) had a history of ever exposure and exposure in the last one year before the survey, respectively. Females were at lower risk of both having ever exposure (95% CI: (0.241, 0.777)) and exposure in the last one year before the survey (95% CI: (0.297, 0.933)) compared to males. Conclusion. The prevalence of HBV was intermediate according to the endemicity classification by WHO. The practice of SP was poor in most participants and, thus, occupational exposure was high. Therefore, regular screening and vaccination of healthcare workers, regular provision of basic or refresher training and availing logistics, and regular motivation of healthcare workers on the practice of standard precautions are recommended.

Surgical site infections are commonest nosocomial infections and responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality as well as increased hospitalizations and treatment cost related to surgical operations. The aim of this study was to determine incidence and predictors of surgical site infections at surgical ward of Hawassa University Referral Hospital, Southern Ethiopia. We performed prospective study involving 105 patients that undergone major surgical procedure at Hawassa University Referral Hospital from March 2 to May 2, 2015. Data were extracted from paper based medical charts, operational and anesthesia note, by direct observation and patients’ interview. All patients were followed daily before, during and after operation for 30 days starting from the date of operation. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) for window version 20.0 software. Predictors of Surgical site infections were identified using multivariable logistic regression model. P-value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. We studied 105 patients. Sixty four patients (61%) were males. The mean age of the patients was 30.85 ± 17.72 years. The mean Body Mass Index (BMI) was 21.6 ± 4 kg/m2. Twenty patients (19.1%) developed surgical site infections. Age greater than 40 years, AOR = 7.7(95% CI [1.610–40.810 p = 0.016,]), preoperative hospital stay more than 7 days, AOR = 22.4(95% CI [4.544–110.780, p = 0.001]), duration of operation more than 1 hour, AOR = 8.01(95% CI [1.562–41.099, p = 0.013]) and administering antimicrobial prophylaxis before 1 hour of operation, AOR = 11.1 (95% CI [1.269–75.639, p = 0.014]) were independent predictors for surgical site infections. Surgical site infection is relatively high.

Background. Maternal undernutrition affects the health of both mothers and children and, as a result, has broad impacts on economic and social development. Objective. The aim of this study was to assess magnitude of undernutrition and associated factors among pregnant women in Gambella town, 2014. Methods. Community based cross-sectional study was conducted on 338 randomly selected pregnant women from March to April 2014. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used for data analysis. Result. The prevalence of undernutrition among pregnant women in Gambella town was 28.6%. Pregnant women who were married before their age of eighteen, who were from food insecure households, and who had low dietary diversity score were nearly four (AOR = 3.9, 95% CI: 2.2–6.9), two (AOR = 2.3, 95% CI : 1.2–3.6), and two (AOR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3–4.16) times more likely to be undernourished as compared to their counterparts, respectively. Conclusion. Prevalence of undernutrition among pregnant women in Gambella town was unacceptably high. Stake holders should give due consideration to health education to delay age at first marriage and mainstreaming and strengthening nutritional activities that contribute to reduction of food insecurity and consumption of unbalanced nutrients.

Background: Deaths due to tobacco consumption are on the rise, from 5.4 million in 2005 to 6.4 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030 of which more than 80% will be in developing countries. Smokeless tobacco use is a significant health risk and cause of disease. Over 300 million people use...

In Ethiopia, about 9000 fistula cases are estimated to occur every year with an incidence of 2.2/1000 women. This study was aimed to determine obstetric fistula characteristics and surgical repair outcomes among patients with fistula surgical repair. A Hospital based cross sectional study design was conducted on all patients with Obstetric vesicovaginal Fistula, who were admitted to Gynecology ward, and had surgical repair from January 2011 to December 2014. Data was collected from patients’ chart, operation logbook and discharge logbook which were filled up from the entry of the patient to the hospital till her discharge. At discharge, a dye test was done to determine the outcome of repair. One hundred sixty eight patients with obstetric vesicovaginal fistula were repaired during the study period. The age of the women ranged from 12 to 45 years with mean of 25 (±6) years and 10.1 % were younger than 18 years. Eighty percent of patients were laboring for two or more days, 46.4 % delivered abdominally (cesarean section 24.4 %, hysterectomy for uterine rupture 22 %), and 85.7 % ended up in stillbirth. Most patients (56 %) had mid-vaginal vesicovaginal fistula. Route of repair was vaginal among 95.8 % of patients, and spinal anesthesia was applied among 70.8 % of patients. Out of 93.4 % patients who had successful closure of their fistula, 84.5 % of patients had their fistula healed and continent, 8.9 % of them developed urinary incontinence while 6.5 % of fistula repair had failed at the time of discharge. Most fistula patients in this study are older than 18 years, referred from health centers either for cephalopelvic disproportion or obstructed labor after prolonged labor at home. In this study, Spinal anesthesia as well as vaginal route was widely employed and high success rates were achieved with surgical repair. Therefore, increasing access to comprehensive emergency obstetric and new born care is essential to minimize the delay contributing to perinatal mortality and obstetric fistula. In addition use of spinal anesthesia and vaginal route of repair is essential for the high success of repair outcome and low postoperative morbidities.

Hypertension poses a significant public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa due to various risk factors. Community-based intervention for prevention and control of hypertension is an effective strategy to minimize the negative health outcomes. However, comprehensive systematic review evidence to inform effective community-based interventions for prevention and control of hypertension in low resource settings is lacking. This study aimed to synthesize the effectiveness of community-based interventions on prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. A comprehensive search for studies was carried out on PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection, Embase, Scopus, and Google scholar databases. The result of the review was reported according to PRISMA guidelines. Studies published in English language were included. Two independent reviewers conducted critical appraisal of included studies and extracted the data using predefined excel sheet. Experimental, quasi experimental, cohort and analytical cross-sectional studies conducted on adults who have received community-based interventions for prevention and controls of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa were included. In this systematic review, a total of eight studies were included, comprising of two interventional studies, two quasi-experimental studies, three cohort studies, and one comparative cross-sectional study. The interventions included health education, health promotion, home-based screening and diagnosis, as well as referral and treatment of hypertensive patients. The sample sizes ranged from 236 to 13,412 in the intervention group and 346 to 6,398 in the control group. This systematic review shows the effect of community-based interventions on reduction of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. However, the existing evidence is inconsistence and not strong enough to synthesize the effect of community-based interventions for the prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, further primary studies need on the effect of community-based interventions for the prevention and control of hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa. Systematic review registration number: PROSPERO CRD42022342823.