Background: Different vaccines have been approved for use against coronavirus disease and distributed globally in different regions. Efforts should be made on the vaccination to control the spread and impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the general population’s attitudes and intention to uptake coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations were poor. Objective: This study aimed to assess the barriers to and intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and the associated factors among adults in the Jimma zone, Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study with multistage sampling was conducted with 621 participants from 16 April to 17 May 2022. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the outcome of interest. Statistical p-value ≤ 0.05 was set at p ≤ 0.05. Qualitative data were supplemented with quantitative results. Results: The majority of the study participants (382 [61.5%]) intended to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine. In this study, travel history (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 2.18, 95% CI 1.23– 3.87), vaccination history (AOR = 2.64, 95% CI 1.69– 4.12), perceptions of infection prevention for COVID-19 (AOR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.28– 3.03), subjective norm (AOR = 2.27, 95% CI 1.52– 3.39), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) (AOR = 2.30, 95% CI 1.55– 3.41) were significantly associated with the intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Conclusion: More than half of the adult participants intended to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The study participant’s traveling history, vaccination history, perception of infection prevention for COVID-19, subjective norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control were significantly associated with the intention to be vaccinated.

Introduction: Infant mortality is one of the commonest health-related indicators used to assess the health status of the community. Children born in Sub-Saharan Africa are at highest risk of infancy death in the world. Ethiopia, in Sub-Saharan Africa, is a country with high infant mortality. Oromia region is among the regions with high infant mortality rate in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to identify determinants of infant mortality in Oromia region, Ethiopia. Methods: The source of data for this study was 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey. Multivariable logistic regression model was employed to identify the determinants the infant mortality. An adjusted odds ratio (OR) with a 95% CI was used examine the determinants of infant mortality. Results: A total of 719 live births born 5 years preceding the survey were included. The infant mortality rate in the study area was 54 deaths per 1000 live births. The risk of dying in infancy was lower for females [adjusted OR (AOR): 0.518, 95% CI: 0.284, 0.945], health deliveries (AOR: 0.429, 95% CI: 0.235, 0.783), infants born to mothers attended ANC during pregnancy (AOR: 0.603, 95% CI: 0.489, 0.744), infants from families with wealth indices of medium (AOR: 0.715, 95% CI: 0.580, 0.882) and rich (AOR: 0.638, 95% CI: 0.425, 0.958) compared with the respective reference categories while it was higher for infants of multiple births (AOR: 2.241, 95% CI: 1.768, 2.841) compared with singletons. Conclusions: Infant mortality rate in the study area, Oromia region, is higher than the national figure. The study found that sex of child, birth type, antenatal care (ANC), place of delivery and wealth index of household were significant determinants of infant mortality. Therefore, concerned bodies should make awareness creation to mothers regarding ANC and encourage them to have ANC follow-up during pregnancy and deliver at health institution to improve the infant survival in the region.

Loss to follow-up from antiretroviral therapy reduces treatment benefits and leads to treatment failure and onward transmission of HIV. Appropriate interventions to increase adherence to the antiretroviral therapy (ART) cannot be designed and implemented without concrete evidence on the rate of loss to follow-up and the characteristics of those who disengage from the treatment. Hence, this study aimed to estimate the incidence of loss to follow-up and identify its predictors among HIV patients following ART at selected public health facilities in Southwest Ethiopia. An Institutional-based retrospective cohort study was conducted among 357 randomly selected adult HIV patients attending antiretroviral therapy from January 2017 to December 2021 at Agaro General Hospital and Agaro Health Center. Data were entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and analyzed using STATA 14.2. To estimate and compare the survival probabilities, the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used. Cox regression analysis was fitted to identify independent predictors of time to loss to follow-up. The proportional hazard assumption was checked using the Schoenfeld residual test. The 95% CI of the hazard ratio with a corresponding p-value ≤ 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. Among a cohort of 357 HIV patients followed for 1028 person-years at Agaro General Hospital and Agaro Health Center, 48 (13.4%) lost their ART follow-up. The overall incidence rate of loss to follow-up was 4.7 (95% CI 3.7, 7.3) per 100 adult-years. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, rural residence (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) = 2.45; 95% CI:1.08–5.58), World Health Organization Clinical stage-IV (AHR = 2.65: 95% CI 1.13–6.26), not disclosing HIV serostatus (AHR = 2.51; 95% CI 1.19–5.29), availability of no treatment supporter (AHR = 4.90; 95% CI: 2.20-10.87), poor and fair adherence to ART follow-up (AHR = 11.28; 95% CI: 4.03–31.56) and (AHR = 5.98; 95% CI: 2.24–15.92), and being out of the catchment area (AHR = 2.70; 95% CI:1.21–6.06) were independently associated with loss to follow-up. In this study, the incidence rate of loss to follow-up among adult HIV patients on ART was higher than the national average. Key predictors of loss to follow-up included rural residence, WHO Clinical stage IV, not disclosing HIV serostatus, absence of a treatment supporter, fair/poor adherence to ART, and visiting an ART clinic outside the catchment area. Therefore, to minimize loss to follow-up, targeted interventions addressing these predictors should be implemented to improve ART follow-up and care for adult HIV patients.

Background: Antenatal care (ANC) reduces maternal and newborn mortalities and makes it easier to find infections early and prevent them from progressing. This study aimed to identify factors affecting ANC utilization in Ethiopia via the count regression model. Methods: The data for the study was drawn from the 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey dataset. Count regression models, such as Poisson, Negative Binomial (NB), Zero-Inflated Poisson (ZIP), and Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) models, were used to determine the factors influencing ANC utilization. Results: A total of 3962 women were included in the study. Only about 42% of women used the WHO-recommended number of ANC of a minimum of four visits. The ZIP model was outperforming to fit the data as compared to other count regression models. Rural residence (IRR=0.8832, 95% CI: 0.8264–0.9440), being resident of the Somalia region (IRR=0.4762, 95% CI: 0.3919–0.5785), SNNPR (IRR=0.8716, 95% CI: 0.7913–0.9600), and Gambela Region (IRR=0.7830, 95% CI: 0.7063–0.8680), being Muslim (IRR=0.9384, 95% CI: 0.8876–0.9921) decrease the ANC utilization. Contrarily, Addis Ababa residence (IRR=1.1171, 95% CI: 1.0181–1.2259), primary education (IRR=1.1278, 95% CI: 1.0728–1.1855), secondary and higher education (IRR=1.2357, 95% CI: 1.1550–1.3220), middle wealth index (IRR=1.0855, 95% CI: 1.0095–1.1671) and rich wealth index (IRR=1.0941, 95% CI: 1.0152–1.1790) increase the ANC utilization. Conclusion: The ZIP model best fitted the data compared to others. The study revealed that being poor, rural resident, uneducated, Somalia region resident, SNNPR resident, Gambela region resident, and Muslim were factors associated with lower ANC utilization. Thus, health education is needed to be given for mothers with no education. In addition, building a strong awareness-creation program regarding ANC is required for rural residents so as to improve the level of ANC utilization in Ethiopia.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 is highly infectious and patients with coronavirus diseases demonstrated a series of clinical symptoms caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. Without a break of the wave’s hematological profile of the patients is still ambiguous and differs from wave to wave. Objective: This study aimed to assess the hematological profile among coronavirus disease 2019 patients during the first and the second waves in Ethiopia. Methods: A multi-centered facility-based retrospective cohort study design was conducted at six coronavirus disease 2019 treatment centers. A total of 538 study participants were enrolled in the selected coronavirus disease 2019 treatment centers during the first and second waves of the pandemic. The demographic characteristics, underlying diseases, symptoms, and hematological parameters of patients were recorded. Data were entered into Epi-Data Manager 4.6 and analyzed using STATA 14.2. An independent sample t-test was used to assess the mean differences in hematological parameters across waves. Associations between categorical variables across waves were also determined using Chi-square and Fisher exact tests. Results: Among the total study participants, 240 (44.6%) and 298 (55.4%) patients were taken from wave-1 and wave-2, respectively. The average age of the study participants was 56.44 ± 16.25 years. The most frequent comorbidities in this study were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, and asthma. The most presenting symptoms of COVID-19 infection across the two waves were presented. In the first wave, dry cough 166 (69.2%), fatigue 153 (63.75%), shortness of breath 148 (61.67%), and fever accounted 116 (48.33%), while during the second wave, dry cough 242 (81.2%), fatigue 244 (81.88%) shortness of breath 204 (68.47%) and fever account 180 (60.40%). White blood cells (WBC), neutrophils, and lymphocytes had shown increment during the first wave. Platelet count and platelet distribution width ( p < 0.001) had significant mean differences across the two waves, while the other had no significant mean difference. Conclusion: In the present study, dry cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, and fever were found to be the most presenting symptoms of COVID-19 infection across the two waves. Only the platelet count and platelet distribution width had significant mean differences across the two waves, while the other had no significant mean difference across waves.