Why is Perinatal Mortality Higher among Women Delivered at Health Facility in Rural Northwest Ehiopia? A Qualitative Study.

This study investigated the reasons for high perinatal deaths among newborns delivered in health facilities in rural northwest Ethiopia. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 survivors of obstetric complications and 11 normal home deliveries. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Open code qualitative 3.6 software was used for managing data and analysis. The primary reasons attributed to high mortality among health-facility-delivered babies were delay in recognizing danger signs of labor and delay in decision to seek care. Most women arrive to health institutions late with seriously complicated labor. Lack of transport, finance, and perceived poor quality of services are additional reasons to delayed seeking of health care during labor. Increasing public education on danger signs of labour, improving quality of emergency obstetric care in the nearby health facilities, and facilitating affordable referral mechanisms are critical to enhance prompt household decisionmaking and decreasing perinatal deaths in rural communities.

Prevalence of bacteria and intestinal parasites among food-handlers in Gondar town, northwest Ethiopia.

Food-handlers with poor personal hygiene working in food-service establishments could be potential sources of infection due to pathogenic organisms. The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of bacteria and intestinal parasites among 127 food-handlers working in the cafeterias of the University of Gondar and the Gondar Teachers Training College, Gondar, Ethiopia. Fingernail contents of both the hands and stool specimens were collected from all the 127 food-handlers. The samples were examined for bacteria and intestinal parasites following standard procedures. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the predominant bacteria species (41.7%) isolated from fingernail contents, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (16.5%), Klebsiella species (5.5%), Escherichia coli (3.1%), Serratia species (1.58%), Citrobacter species (0.8%), and Enterobacter species (0.8%). Shigella species were isolated from stool samples of four food-handlers (3.1%). None of the food-handlers was positive for Salmonella species and Shigella species in respect of their fingernail contents. No intestinal parasites were detected from fingernail contents. Intestinal parasites detected in the stools of the food-handlers included Ascaris lumbricoides (18.11%), Strongyloides stercoralis (5.5%), Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (1.6%), Trichuris trichiura (1.6%), hookworm species (0.8%), Gardia lamblia (0.8%), and Schistosoma mansoni (0.8%); 1.6% of the study subjects were positive for each of A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, hookworm, and G. lamblia. The findings emphasize the importance of food-handlers as potential sources of infections and suggest health institutions for appropriate hygienic and sanitary control measures.