Exclusive breastfeeding means babies are given only breast milk and nothing else: no other milk, food, drink, not even water for one day (24 hrs) before the survey was conducted. It prevents 13% of childhood mortality; i.e, at least 1.2 million children worldwide would be saved every year. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) practice and its associated factor among mothers who have infants less than six months of age in Motta town, East Gojjam, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. A community based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted from April 7, 2015 to May 7, 2015. A simple random sampling technique was applied after taking all registered mothers who have infants less than six months old from local health extension workers of each kebele. A total of 423 mothers with infant less than six months old were included in this study. The data was collected using an interviewer administered questioaire. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding practice. Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 50.1%. Mothers with young infants aged 0-1 month (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 3.86: (1.64, 9.07), unemployed mothers (AOR 3.01: 1.46, 6.20), low income mothers (AOR 3.61: 1.75, 7.45), mothers who received breastfeeding counseling in pregnancy (AOR 2.76: 1.52, 4.99), fed colostrum (AOR 3.50: 1.45, 8.45), didn't give prelacteal feeds (AOR 4.48: 1.82, 11.03) and were supported by their husband (AOR 2.67: 1.04, 6.95) were more likely to practice exclusive breastfeeding than their counterparts. Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice in study area was lower than country recommended level. Age of the child, maternal occupation, income, breastfeeding counseling during antenatal care, husband support of breastfeeding and colostrum feeding were independent predictors of exclusive breastfeeding practice. Recommendations to increase exclusive breastfeeding practice are revising postpartum maternity leave, increasing health professional's habit of breastfeeding counseling through training, involving husbands during counseling, educating mothers and the community as a whole to avoid traditional practices that hinder exclusive breastfeeding up to six months.

Background: Neonatal sepsis is an invasive infection, usually bacterial, and often occurring during the neonatal period (0–28 days). Neonatal sepsis causes a high burden of morbidity and mortality in developing countries like Ethiopia. There are fragmented, inconsistency, and no review has been conducted to report the magnitude and associated factors of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia. Thus, this study aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis and its association with birth weight and gestational age among admitted neonates in Ethiopia.Methods: Electronic media searches like PubMed, CINHAL, EMBASE, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Cochrane library databases and African health science library were used. All original peer-reviewed papers which reported the prevalence of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia were included in this study. Two reviewers independently extracted the data using a standardized data extraction format for eligibility and appraised their quality. Data were analyzed using Stata version 14 software. The pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis was estimated with the random-effect model. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed byI²statistics test. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were done to assess the source of variation between the studies. Egger’s test followed by trim and fill analysis were used to determine publication bias. A sensitivity analysis was carried out.Result: A total of 952 research papers reviewed, of which, eight studies were finally included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The random effect pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia was 49.98% (CI: 36.06, 63.90). In subgroup analysis, the pooled estimated neonatal sepsis among cross-sectional studies was 53.15% while the cohort was 40.56%. Newborns with a birth weight of less than 2.5 kg were 1.42 times more likely to develop neonatal sepsis infection compared to normal babies. The odds ratios of preterm babies were 3.36 to develop neonatal sepsis compared to term infants.Conclusion: The pooled prevalence of neonatal sepsis in Ethiopia was high. Thus, health care providers should adhere to aseptic precautions while performing procedures, especially in preterm and low birth weight infants were recommended.

Sepsis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among neonates. The risk factors and clinical outcomes of sepsis are poorly understood. Most cases of sepsis occurred mostly within the first week of newborns life related to perinatal risk factors. Late onset sepsis is related to hospital acquired infections which is seen after seven days of age. The purpose of this study was to assess clinical outcome and risk factors of neonatal sepsis in Felege Hiwot referral hospital Bahir Dar, North West Ethiopia. Among the total 225 neonatal charts reviewed; 164 (72.9%) were age less than or equal to 7 days, and 144 (64%) were males. About 29 (12.9%) neonates were with irregular respiratory signs and 40 (17.8%) had meconium aspiration syndrome. Regarding the clinical outcome of neonatal sepsis: 189 (84%) were improved after treatment, 9 (4%) were died and 13 (5.8%) referred to other organizations for further treatment. Respiratory distress syndrome [AOR = 0.258 (0.072–0.930)] and meconium aspiration syndrome [AOR = 0.1989 (0.059–0.664)] were the determinant factors for poor outcome of neonatal sepsis. The clinical outcome of neonatal sepsis in Felege Hiwot referral hospital was not satisfactory. The significant risk factors for poor outcome of neonatal sepsis were respiratory distress syndrome and meconium aspiration syndrome. Recommendations to improve neonatal outcome are: performing essential newborn care for all newborns and arranging appropriate follow up until the end of neonatal period, increasing antenatal care and early detection and management of neonatal infections or problems.

In Ethiopia, morbidity and mortality due to diarrhea is significantly high. Most importantly, burden of diarrhea is disproportionately high among under-five children. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and factors associated with diarrhea among children younger than 5 years old in Bahir Dar city, Northwest, Ethiopia, 2016. This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among under-five years-old children from March 24 to April 12, 2016. Systematic sampling technique was used to select 498 households. Data were collected by using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to identify predictor variables. Factors with a p-value of < 0.05 were considered as independently associated with diarrhea. The 2 weeks prevalence of diarrhea among under five children was 14.5%. Lack of hand washing facilities in the household (AOR = 3.910 (1.770, 8.634)), lack of separate feeding materials (AOR = 5.769 (1.591, 9.220)), poor hand washing practice (AOR = 6.104 (2.100, 17.738)) and not breastfeeding (AOR = 2.3 (1.023, 5.46)) were predictors of the concurrence of diarrhea. The prevalence of diarrhea in the study area was slightly higher than the 2016, Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey finding which was 12%. Thus, improving handwashing facilities and practices, serving the food to the child with a separate materials and encourage optimal breastfeeding were recommended.

Timely initiation of breastfeeding within one hour after birth and exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of infant life along with continuation of breastfeeding up to two years. Timely initiation of breastfeeding has the potential to prevent 22 % of neonatal deaths. The objective of this study was to assess timely initiation of breastfeeding and associated factors among mothers who have infants less than six months of age in Motta town, East Gojjam, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. Community based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted from April 7, 2015 to May 7, 2015. Simple random sampling technique was applied after taking all registered mothers who have infants less than 6 months old from local health extension workers of each kebele. A total of 423 mothers with infant less than six month old were included in this study. The data was collected from all four Kebeles using interviewer administered questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to present the data. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with timely initiation breastfeeding. Prevalence of timely initiation of breastfeeding was78.8 % [95 % CL: 74.88 %, 82.72 %]. Mothers who gave birth to their infant in a health institution [AOR = 3.486(1.253, 9.700)], birthed vaginally [AOR = 5.722(3.134, 11.246)] and didn’t give prelacteal food [AOR = 4.627(2.095, 10.220)] were more likely to initiate breastfeeding early than their counterparts. Prevalence of timely initiation of breastfeeding in the study area was 78.8 %. Place of delivery, mode of delivery and prelactal feeding were the independent predictors of timely initiation of breastfeeding. Recommendations to increase timely initiation of breastfeeding were: encouraging mothers to deliver their child in a health institution, minimizing caesarean delivery as much as possible and educating mothers and community as a whole to avoid traditional prelactal feeding practice.

Background: Anemia is the most common hematologic disorder of children in the globe. There are fragmented and inconclusive study findings on under-five anemia in Ethiopia. Understanding the distribution of anemia is an important step for program planners and policymakers. Therefore, this systematic review was aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of anemia and associated factors with dietary diversity, food security, stunted, and deworming in Ethiopia. Methods: We searched through African journals of online, Google Scholar, CINHAL, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane library, and Scopus. Reviewers used standardized format to extract the data. The data was exported to Stata version 11 software for analysis after extracted by Microsoft excel. The DerSimonian-Laird random-effect model was used to assess the pooled prevalence of under-five anemia. Variation between studies (heterogeneity) was assessed by I² statistic test. Publication bias was assessed by the Egger test. Result: From 561 studies, 16 articles were included in this review. The pooled prevalence of under-five anemia in Ethiopia was 44.83%. In subgroup analysis, the higher pooled prevalence of anemia was observed from children’s age less than 2 years old (50.36%) (95% CI 39.53, 61.18). Poor dietary diversity OR = 1.71 (1.10, 2.68), stunting OR = 2.59 (2.04, 3.28), food insecurity OR = 2.87 (1.25, 6.61), and not dewormed OR = 2.34 (1.77, 3.09) were predictors of under-five anemia. Conclusion: The magnitude of under-five anemia in this study was extremely high. Therefore, increased coverage of supplementation and fortification programs, periodic deworming, feeding diversified food, supplement food for those who are stunted, and securing food in the households may all alleviate under-five anemia.