Appropriate household water treatment methods in Ethiopia: household use and associated factors based on 2005, 2011, and 2016 EDHS data

BACKGROUND@#Diarrheal disease attributable to water and sanitation can be prevented using point-of-use water treatment. In Ethiopia, a small number of households treat water at point-of-use with appropriate methods. However, evidence on factors associated with household use of these treatment methods is scarce. Therefore, this study is intended to explore the household use of appropriate point-of-use water treatment and associated factors in Ethiopia.@*METHODS@#The data of 2005, 2011, and 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health surveys were used for analysis. Households reportedly treating water with bleach, boiling, filtration, and solar disinfection in each survey are considered as treating with appropriate treatment methods. Household water treatment with these treatment methods and factors associated was assessed using bivariate and multivariable regression. In addition, a region level difference in the treatment use was assessed by using multilevel modeling.@*RESULTS@#The number of households that reported treating water with appropriate water treatment methods was 3.0%, 8.2%, and 6.5% respectively in 2005, 2011, and 2016. Household heads with higher education had 5.99 (95% CI = 3.48, 10.33), 3.61 (95% CI = 2.56, 5.07), and 3.43 (95% CI = 2.19, 6.37) times higher odds of using the treatment methods respectively in 2005, 2011, and 2016 compared to household heads who had no education. There was a significantly high number of households that used appropriate water treatment methods in 2011 (AOR = 2.78, 95% CI = 2.16, 3.57) and 2016 (AOR = 2.18, 95% CI = 1.64, 3.89) compared to 2005 data. In pooled data analysis, the reported use of the treatment methods is associated with household head education, residency, drinking water sources, and owning radio and television. From a multilevel modeling, within-region variation is higher than between-region variations in the use of treatment methods in each survey.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Below 10% of households reportedly treating water at point-of-use in each survey attributable to different factors. Designing intervention strategies for wide-scale use of treatment methods at the country level is fundamental.

Results of the determination of iodine content in household salt / Эрүүл мэндийн лаборатори

Justification@#Iodine is a micronutrient essential for human health. 92% of the required iodine human organism obtains with food. One of methods to supply the required amount of iodine is the use of iodised salt. The overall goal of our study was to determine the actual consumption of iodised salt by households. @*Materials and Methods@#Samples of salt consumed by 20173 households from five regions (Western, Mountainous, Central, Eastern regions and Ulaanbaatar city) of Mongolia were collected and their iodine contents were determined according to MNS 5168:2002.@*Results@#Out of the total analyzed salt samples, 19.1 % were non-iodised, 2.8% had low iodine content, 77.5% had appropriate level of iodine and 0.6% had high level of iodine.</br> When the salt iodine contents were evaluated by the country regions, it was revealed that the households in Western (31.4%) and Mountainous (20.57%) regions consumed salt that was not iodised. 84.5% of the Ulaanbaatar city households consumed salt with appropriate level of iodine.@*Conclusions@#</br> 1. 19.1 % of the surveyed households consume non-iodised salt, 2.8% consume salt with low iodine content, 77.5% consume salt with appropriate level of iodine and 0.6% consume salt with high level of iodine.</br> 2. The iodine level is appropriate in 84.5% of salt consumed by Ulaanbaatar city households.