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Background Worldwide, there is remarkable progress in child survival in the past three decades. Ethiopia is off-track on sustainable development targets in under-five mortality since 2020. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate time to death and its associated factors among under-five children in Ethiopia. Methods Nationally representative demographic and health survey data were used for this study. A total of 5772 under-five children were included. Data were analyzed using R software. Semi-parametric nested shared frailty survival analysis was employed to identify factors affecting under-five mortality. Adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) with 95% Confidence interval (CI) was reported and log-likelihood was used for model comparison. Statistical significance was declared at P-value < 0.05. Results The weighted incidence of under-five death before celebrating the first fifth year was 5.76% (95% CI: 5.17 – 6.40). Female sex and under-five children living in urban areas were high probability of survival than their counterparts. After controlling cluster and region level frailty, multiple births (AHR = 7.03, 95% CI: 4.40—11.24), breastfed within one hour after birth (AHR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.28—0.61), preceding birth interval 18–23 months (AHR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.12 -2.36), and under-five children younger than 18 months (AHR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.93 -3.86), and teenage pregnancy (AHR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.01—2.87) were statistically significant factors for time to under-five death. Conclusion Even though Ethiopia has a significant decline under-five death, still a significant number of under-five children were dying. Early initiation of breastfeeding, preceding birth interval and teenage pregnancy were the preventable factors of under-five mortality. To curve and achieve the SDG targets regarding under-five mortality in Ethiopia, policymakers and health planners should give prior attention to preventable factors for under-five mortality.
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PURPOSE: The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the worst global crisis after the Second World War. Since no successful treatment and vaccine have been reported, efforts to enhance the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of the public, especially the high-risk groups, are critical to manage COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among patients with chronic disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 404 chronic disease patients from March 02 to April 10, 2020, at Addis Zemen Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses with a 95% confidence interval were fitted to identify factors associated with poor knowledge and practice towards COVID-19. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was used to determine the magnitude of the association between the outcome and independent variables. P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 56.5±13.5. The prevalence of poor knowledge and poor practice was 33.9% and 47.3%, respectively. Forty-one percent of the participants perceived that avoiding of attending a crowded population is very difficult. Age (AOR=1.05, (95% CI (1.01-1.08)), educational status of "can't read and write" (AOR=7.1, 95% CI (1.58-31.93)), rural residence (AOR=19.0, 95% CI (6.87-52.66)) and monthly income (AOR=0.8, 95% CI (0.79-0.89)) were significantly associated with poor knowledge. Being unmarried (AOR=3.9, 95% CI (1.47-10.58)), cannot read and write (AOR=2.7, 95% CI (1.03-7.29)), can read and write (AOR=3.5, 95% CI (1.48-8.38)), rural residence (AOR=2.7, 95% CI (1.09-6.70)), income of <7252 Ethiopian birr (AOR=2.3, 95% CI (1.20-4.15)) and poor knowledge (AOR=8.6, 95% CI (3.81-19.45)) were significantly associated with poor practice. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of poor knowledge and poor practice was high. Leaflets prepared in local languages should be administered and health professionals should provide detailed information about COVID-19 to their patients.
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BACKGROUND: Despite efforts to decrease the burden, vaccine reluctance is increasing worldwide and hindering efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, understanding the willingness of a community to receive a COVID-19 vaccine will help to develop and implement effective means of promoting COVID-19 vaccine uptake. OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to assess the willingness of the Ethiopian population to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and its determinant factors. METHODS: E-survey was conducted from February 2021 to March 2021. After developing the questionnaire, the template was created on Google Forms and disseminated in public on different social media channels (e.g., Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, email, etc.) by using a shareable link. Descriptive statistics were performed. Finally, multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to assess their relationship with socio-demographic factors. RESULTS: In total, 31.4% (n = 372) of respondents were willing to get a vaccine. One-third of respondents, 32.2% (n = 381), reported that COVID-19 vaccines are safe. Almost all 94.9% (n = 1124) responded that health workers should be vaccinated first. Only 21.7% (n = 257) willing to buy the vaccine if it is not provided free. Being female [OR (95% CI):1.85 (1.05-3.25)], aged less than 25 years old [OR (95% CI): 5.09 (3.41-7.59)], aged between 26-30 years [OR (95% CI): 3.57 (2.55-5.00)], being unmarried[OR (95% CI):1.12 (0.81-1.55)], urban in residence [OR (95% CI): 1.06 (0.69-1.62)], private sector worker in occupation [OR (95% CI):0.45 (0.26 -0.77)], university/college student [OR (95% CI): 0.88 (0.59-1.32)], not having a health-related job [OR (95% CI): 4.08 (2.57-6.48)], orthodox [OR (95% CI): 1.16 (0.61-2.19)], Muslim [OR (95% CI): 0.285 (0.13 -0.61)], educational status of university/above [OR (95% CI): 4.87 (3.15-7.53)] have a statistically significant association and were more likely willing to take COVID-19 than their counterparts. CONCLUSION: This study found that only 31.4% were willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Being female, older age, marital status, residence, occupations, not having a health-related job, religion, educational status were statistically significantly associated with willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
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PURPOSE: An acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID) was identified in late 2019. COVID-19 triggered a wide range of psychological problems, such as anxiety, depression, and stress. However, studies on mental health status in developing countries including Ethiopia related to COVID-19 are very limited. Therefore, this study was aimed at determining the magnitude of depression, anxiety, and stress, and their associated factors among Gondar town population during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 660 residents of Gondar town in April 2020. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select study participants. A 21 item depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) was used. Variables with a p-value <0.05 in the final model were declared as statistically significant. Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness of fit test was used to check the model fitness. RESULTS: In this study, the prevalence of depression was 32.0% (95% CI: 28.4-35.5), anxiety 25.8% (95% CI: 22.4-29.1), and stress 14.7% (95% CI: 12.0-17.4), respectively. The odds of developing depression was higher among female respondents (AOR=2.30, 95% CI: 1.01, 3.83) and ever smokers (AOR=2.8, 95 CI: 1.23, 6.28) as compared to their counterparts. Besides, history of medical illness and ever smoking increase the odds of anxiety by 2.3 (AOR=2.3; 95% CI: 1.42-3.76), and 2.8 (AOR=2.8; 95% CI: 1.23-3.83), respectively. Furthermore, being unemployed and family size of <5 increase the odds of stress by 2.1 (AOR=2.1; 95% CI: 1.17-3.83) and 1.8 (AOR=1.8; 95% CI: 1.09-2.81), respectively. CONCLUSION: In this study, the overall depression, anxiety, and stress were significantly high. There are number of factors associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Designing and implementing tailored strategies for COVID-19 prevention and control could be supremely important to reduce mental health problems in the community.