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.

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.

Early initiation of breastfeeding, also known as early initiation, is the provision of a mothers own breast milk to her infant within one hour of birth. In Ethiopia, there is a considerable variation in the timely initiation of breastfeeding practices. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the level of timely initiation of breastfeeding and associated factors among mothers of infants less than six months old in Bahir Dar, Northwest, Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Bahir Dar City from April 15 to May 3, 2017. A total of 472 mothers of infant age less than six months were selected by simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were done to know the distribution of variables. To identify predictors logistic regression was conducted. The prevalence of timely initiation of breastfeeding was 356 (75.4%). Mothers who birth by a vaginal delivery (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 6.99; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 3.49, 14.00), mothers who gave birth at health institution (AOR 3.36; 95% CI 1.47, 7.67), and who get breastfeeding counseling during antenatal care visits (AOR 5.64; 95% CI 2.70, 11.79) were more likely to initiate breastfeeding within one hour than counterparts. Practice of timely initiation of breastfeeding in this study was suboptimal. Mothers who delivered at the health institution, gave birth by a vaginal delivery, and who got breastfeeding counseling during antenatal visits were the independent predictors of the timely initiation of breastfeeding practice. Encouraging all mothers to give birth in health facilities, counsel mothers to initiate breastfeeding timely at time of Caesarean sections, reduce the indication of the Caesarean procedure and providing breastfeeding counseling during antenatal care visits were recommended. Additionally, health services must establish practices that enable timely breastfeeding whenever possible, in particular, after Caesarean section and systems need to be set up to enable skin-to-skin and timely breastfeeding.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one of the most important global health problems. More than one and half million of children are living with HIV in the world, and majority of them are found in sub-Saharan Africa. There are primary fragmented study findings, and no review was conducted with regard to vertical HIV infection in East Africa. Therefore, this review aimed to assess the prevalence of vertical HIV infection and its risk factors among HIV-exposed infants in East Africa. Main body: Eligible studies were retrieved by relevant search terms in CINHAL, Pub-MED, Google Scholar, EMBASE, Web of Science, SCOPUS, Cochrane, African Journals Online databases, and Ethiopian University research repositories. Data were extracted with Microsoft Excel and analyzed with Stata version 11 software. The random effect model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of vertical HIV infection in East Africa. The variation between studies was quantified with an I² statistic test. Furthermore, sub-group and meta-regression analyses were done to identify the sources of heterogeneity between the studies. The publication bias was assessed by Egger test. This systematic review and meta-analysis have included a total of 33 research articles. The overall pooled prevalence of vertical HIV infection in East Africa was 7.68% with a 95% confidence interval [CI]: (6.23, 9.12) with a heterogeneity of I² = 86.8 with a p value < 0.001. In subgroup analysis, the pooled prevalence of vertical HIV infection in cross-sectional studies was 6.58%, while in cohort studies were 9.37%. Mixed feeding, AOR = 6.22 (1.02, 11.41); home delivery, AOR = 2 (1.01, 3); mothers took ART less than 4 weeks, AOR = 1.92 (1.79, 2.06); and infants who have not received ARV prophylaxis, AOR = 2.02 (1.05, 2.98) were the associated factors for vertical HIV infection for exposed infants. Conclusions: The pooled prevalence of the mother to child transmission of HIV is way more than the desired target of the World Health Organization, which is less than 5% in breastfeeding populations. Thus, strengthening the prevention of vertical HIV transmission, promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, timely initiation of ART prophylaxis for HIV exposed infants, encouragement of hospital delivery, and the start of ART at the time of diagnosis of every HIV-positive person may all reduce the transmission of vertical HIV infection.