Health care providers' awareness of breastfeeding practice recommendations during COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors in Northwest Ethiopia, 2021: A multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission to newborns is one of the basic components of perinatal care in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, scientific evidence is compulsory for evidence-based practices. However, there was a scarcity of evidence on health care providers' awareness of breastfeeding practice recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia, particularly in the study setting. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed at assessing healthcare providers' awareness of breastfeeding practice recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors among healthcare providers in northwest Ethiopia, 2021. METHODS: A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted among 405 healthcare providers working in hospitals of Gondar province from November 15, 2020, to March 10, 2021. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select the study subjects. Data were collected via a structured-self-administered questionnaire. EPI INFO version 7.1.2 and SPSS version 25 were used for data entry and analysis respectively. Binary logistic regression analyses were done to identify associated factors and the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) at a p-value of <0.05 was used to declare significant association. RESULTS: The healthcare providers' awareness of breastfeeding practice recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic was 40.7% (95% CI: 35.9, 45.6). Working in a tertiary hospital (AOR = 3.69; 95% CI: 2.24, 6.08), using COVID-19 guideline updates (AOR = 3.34; 95% CI: 2.1, 5.3), being trained on COVID-19 (AOR = 2.78; 95% CI: 1.74, 4.47), owning a smartphone and/or a computer (AOR = 2.26; 95% CI: 1.39, 3.68), and perceiving that COVID-19 is dangerous (AOR = 1.78; 95% CI: 1.05, 3.01) were factors positively associated with healthcare providers' awareness of breastfeeding practice recommendations during the pandemic of COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Only two in five healthcare providers were aware of recommendations on breastfeeding practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and related to information of accessibility information on COVID-19. Therefore, expanding COVID-19 related information through the provision of COVID-19 training and guidelines to all levels of hospitals would improve health care providers' awareness of breastfeeding practice recommendations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 preventive practices during intrapartum care- adherence and barriers in Ethiopia; a multicenter cross- sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a newly emerging pandemic affecting more than 120 million people globally. Compliance with preventive practices is the single most effective method to overcome the disease. Although several studies have been conducted regarding COVID-19, data on healthcare provider's adherence to COVID-19 preventive practices during childbirth through direct observation is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to assess healthcare provider's adherence to COVID-19 preventive practices during childbirth in northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A multicenter study was conducted at hospitals in northwest Ethiopia among 406 healthcare providers from November 15 /2020 to March 10 /2021. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select the study subjects. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews and direct observation using a structured questionnaire and standardized checklist respectively. EPI INFO version 7.1.2 and SPSS 25 were used for data entry and analysis respectively. Binary logistic regression analyses were undertaken to identify associated factors. The level of significance was decided based on the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval at a p-value of ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: The proportion of healthcare providers having good adherence to COVID-19 preventive practices during intrapartum care was 46.1% (95% CI: 41.2, 50.9). Healthcare providers who had job satisfaction (AOR = 3.18; 95% CI: 1.64, 6.13), had smartphone and/or computer (AOR = 2.75; 95% CI: 1.62, 4.65), ever received training on infection prevention (AOR = 3.58; 95% CI: 2.20, 5.84), earned higher monthly income (AOR = 2.15; 95% CI: 1.30, 3.57), and worked at health facility in the urban area (AOR = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.77) had a significant association with adherence to COVID-19 preventive practices. Moreover, the most commonly mentioned barriers for not adhering to the preventive practice of COVID-19 were crowdedness of the delivery room, non-availability of personal protective equipment, and shortage of alcohol or sanitizer. CONCLUSION: The healthcare provider's adherence to COVID-19 preventive practices was low. Hence, stakeholders need to pay special attention to increase healthcare provides' job satisfaction. In addition, the provision of continuous training on infection prevention would be helpful. Furthermore, personal protective equipment, alcohol, and sanitizer supply must be provided for healthcare providers.

Adherence to respectful maternity care guidelines during COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors among healthcare providers working at hospitals in northwest Ethiopia: A multicenter, observational study.

BACKGROUND: Respectful maternity care is one of the facilitators of women's access to maternity healthcare services. However, it has been evidenced that maternal healthcare services are compromised during the pandemic of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). Moreover, there was a dearth of evidence on healthcare provider's adherence to respectful maternity care guidelines through direct observation. Hence, this study intended to assess healthcare provider's adherence to respectful maternity care guidelines during COVID-19 in northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A multicenter observational cross-sectional study was conducted at hospitals in northwest Ethiopia from November 15th/2020 to March 10th/2021. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select 406 healthcare providers. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and direct observation using a structured questionnaire and standardized checklist respectively. The data were entered into Epi Info 7.1.2 and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. A binary logistic regression model was fitted. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were undertaken. The level of significance was claimed based on the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) at a p-value of ≤0.05. RESULTS: The proportion of healthcare providers adhering to respectful maternity care guidelines during COVID-19 was 63.8% (95% CI: 59.1, 68.4). Job satisfaction (AOR = 1.82; 95% CI: 1.04, 3.18), professional work experience of 3-5 years (AOR = 2.84; 95% CI: 1.74, 4.6) and ≥6 years (AOR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.11, 4.38), and having education parallel to work (AOR = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.21, 0.51) have an independent statistical significant association with adherence to respectful maternity care guidelines. CONCLUSION: In this study, six out of ten healthcare providers had good adherence to respectful maternity care guidelines. Ensuring health worker's job satisfaction and providing education opportunities by the government would improve healthcare provider's adherence to respectful maternity care standards.