Factors associated with the level of Knowledge and self-reported Practice toward safety precautions among Factory Workers in East Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia.

Background: According to the International Labor Organization, occupational accidents and diseases kill millions of workers every year. Objective: To assess factors associated with the level of knowledge and self-reported practice toward safety precautions among factory workers in the East Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia, 2021. Methods: An institution-based, cross-sectional study was conducted on 420 randomly selected factory workers. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires and an observation checklist. The data were analyzed using the descriptive statistical method and using bivariate binary and multivariable logistic regression models. Variables with a p-value <0.05 with a 95% confidence interval were considered to have statistical significance. Results: The study had a response rate of 99.0%, with a total of 416 respondents. 53.4% of respondents were aware of safety precautions, and 56.0% of them rated the use of personal protective equipment as an indicator of the practice of safety precautions. Factory workers' educational status (adjusted odds ratio: 4.3, 95% confidence interval: 2.4, 7.8), job satisfaction (adjusted odds ratio: 4.7, 95% confidence interval: 2.1, 10.4), and having training on safety issues (adjusted odds ratio: 12.8, 95% confidence interval: 6.3, 26.1) were determinant factors of knowledge regarding safety precautions, while the type of factory (adjusted odds ratio: 16.0, 95% confidence interval: 5.8, 44.1), the presence of regular supervision (adjusted odds ratio: 3.8, 95% confidence interval: 2.1, 6.8), and overall knowledge about safety precautions (adjusted odds ratio: 7.2, 95% confidence interval: 3.9, 13.2) were the independent determinants of the practice of safety precautions. Conclusions: Workers' knowledge and practice regarding safety precautions were low as compared to studies in developing countries. Interventions targeted at the provision of training, promotion, and enforcement of issues regarding safety precautions should be in place. Employers, the government, and employees should work together to address these workplace safety issues.

Food Safety Knowledge, Handling Practices and Associated Factors Among Food Handlers Working in Food Establishments in Debre Markos Town, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020: Institution-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

PURPOSE: Foodborne illness is a major public health problem worldwide. The supply of safe and healthy food is crucial to prevent foodborne illness. However, evidence regarding food safety knowledge and handling practice is limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess food safety knowledge, handling practice, and its associated factors among food handlers in Debre Markos Town, North West Ethiopia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 408 randomly selected food handlers at Debre-Markos town. A structured questionnaire and an observational checklist were used to collect relevant data. The main outcome of interest was food safety and handling practice. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors significantly associated with food safety knowledge and food handling practice. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. RESULTS: In this study, only 34.1% of food handlers had good food safety knowledge and nearly 54% of food handlers had good food handling practice. Level of education (AOR = 0.23 (0.14-0.57)), training on food safety (AOR = 5.13 (3.57-7.82)), and favorable attitudes towards food safety (AOR=2.54 (1.52-4.25)) were the factors associated with knowledge of food safety. Similarly, training (AOR=2.05, 95% CI=1.31-3.19), a good level of knowledge (AOR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.40, 3.17), and work experience (AOR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.10-2.81) were positively associated with good food handling practice. CONCLUSION: In this study, the level of food safety knowledge and handling practices were relatively low. Therefore, the concerned bodies should work on the identified factors to improve food handlers' knowledge of food safety and practice level. Continuous training for food handlers should be given.

Level of food consumption score and associated factors among pregnant women at SHEGAW MOTTA hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Several studies conducted to access the status of household food insecurity in Ethiopia show that the nutrition problem is still highly prevalent especially in pregnant women and children. This study was conducted in 2018 main harvesting season with the principal objective to assess the level of food consumption score and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal service at Shegaw Motta Hospital. METHODS: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among pregnant women attending antenatal care service at Shegaw Motta Hospital, East Gojjam Zone, Northwest Ethiopia. Primary data of 422 pregnant women were collected using interviewer administered structured questionnaire and a systematic random sampling technique was used to select study participants. The standardized World Food Program eight food groups English version questionnaire was translated to the local Amharic language and used along with the Ethiopian food composition table. The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistics and analyzed with SPSS software. RESULTS: From the total of 422 pregnant women, 1.9% (95% CI: 0.7-3.3) of the respondents food consumption score were poor, 16.6% (95% CI: 13.0-20.4) were borderline and the remaining 81.5% (95% CI: 77.5-85.1) had acceptable food consumption score. Residence, being rural or urban [AOR = 4.594;95%CI: 1.871-11.283, P = 0.001], religion status, being an Orthodox [AOR = 0.073;95% CI: 0.021-0.254, P < 0.0001], were factors associated with food consumption score. CONCLUSIONS: Food consumption score among pregnant women seems to be highly unacceptable. Residence and religion were factors associated with food consumption score. Therefore, appropriate nutrition education should be given.

Minimum dietary diversity and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Dietary diversity has long been recognized as a key element of high quality diets. Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) is the consumption of four or more food groups from the seven food groups. Globally, only few children are receiving nutritionally adequate and diversified foods. More than two-thirds of malnutrition related child deaths are associated with inappropriate feeding practice during the first two years of life. In Ethiopia, only 7 % of children age 6-23 months had received the minimum acceptable diet. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to determine the level of minimum dietary diversity practice and identify the associated factors among children aged 6-23 months in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: A health facility based cross sectional study was undertaken in the three sub-cities of Addis Ababa from 26th February to 28th April, 2016. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample the 352 study participants or mothers who had children aged 6-23 months. Data were collected by using a structured and pretested questionnaire, cleaned and entered into Epi info 7 and analyzed using SPSS 24 software. Logistic regression was fitted and odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) with p-value less than 0.05 was used to identify factors associated with minimum dietary diversity. RESULT: In this study, the overall children with minimum dietary diversity score were found to be 59.9%. Mother's educational attainment and a higher household monthly income were positively associated with the minimum dietary diversity practice. Similarly, mothers' knowledge on dietary diversity and child feeding was positively associated with minimum dietary diversity child feeding practice, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.98 (95% CI: 1.11-3.53). CONCLUSION: In this study, the consumption of minimum dietary diversity was found to be high. In spite of this, more efforts need to be done to achieve the recommended minimum dietary diversity intake for all children aged between 6 and 23 months.

Hepatitis B virus vaccination status and associated factors among health care workers in Shashemene Zonal Town, Shashemene, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major global health problem. More than three-quarters of HBV infection occur in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of acquiring HBV, hepatitis C (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections via exposure to patients' blood and bodily fluids. HBV infection is a recognized occupational hazard, and non-immune health professionals are at risk of acquiring the infection from their work. This study was intended to assess the level of HBV vaccination status and factors affecting the vaccination status of health care workers in Shashemene Zonal Town. METHODS: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted and a simple random sampling technique was used to select study subjects. A total of 423 HCWs were enrolled in the study. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the required information through a face to face interview. Finally, data were processed and analyzed using Epi info version 7 and SPSS version 21. Both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to assess the effect of the various factors on vaccination status of HCWs. p value ≤0.05 at 95% CI was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Overall, 53 (12.9%) respondents were found to be fully vaccinated. The multivariable logistic regression showed that, those respondents who are female, had ≥10 years of work experience and those working at governmental health care institutions were significantly associated with vaccination status (AOR = 3.84, 12.51, 2.45 respectively). CONCLUSION: Our study revealed that vaccination status of subjects was below the WHO's estimation of vaccination rate among HCWs in developing countries and was very poor when compared with other countries. This is a serious public health problem and challenge for a country with high prevalence of hepatitis B infection.

Prevalence and associated factors of occupational injuries among municipal solid waste collectors in four zones of Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Refuse collectors are at a high risk for fatal and non-fatal occupational accidents. This is more intensified in developing countries, like Ethiopia, due to physically demanding nature of the job. However, information on occupational injuries and related factors are almost non-existent in Ethiopia. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of occupational injuries and its associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among municipal solid waste collectors in four zones of Amhara region from February to May 2015. Computer generated simple random sampling technique was used to select the samples. Interviewer administrated questionnaires were used for the data collection process. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between outcome variables and explanatory variables. RESULTS: In this study, the annual prevalence of at least one occupational injury among solid waste workers was 34.3 % (95 % CI: 29.52, 39.10). Of these, 50.7 % of them were visited health facility to receive health care. The independent predictors of at least one occupational injury were shorter service years, low monthly salary, history of job related stress, and sleeping disturbance related to the job. Being illiterate, having lower monthly income, and those who reported sleeping disturbance were significantly and positively associated with severe occupational injuries of solid waste collectors. CONCLUSION: The magnitude of occupational injuries among municipal solid waste collectors is lower than other similar studies conducted in Ethiopia. Based on the finding of this and other studies, job rotation among work components, improvement of employees' income, job specific guideline regarding maximum production limits, and replacement of bags and bins with wheeled containers are an interventions expected to cope with the problem. There is also a need of specific periodic health surveillance (PHS) for refuse collectors to detect early signs of work related complaints and to monitor work ability.

Assessment of exposure to sexually explicit materials and factors associated with exposure among preparatory school youths in Hawassa City, Southern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional institution based survey.

BACKGROUND: According to the 2007 Ethiopian census, youths aged 15-24 years were more than 15.2 million which contributes to 20.6% of the whole population. These very large and productive groups of the population are exposed to various sexual and reproductive health risks. The aim of this study was to assess exposure to Sexually Explicit Materials (SEM) and factors associated with exposure among preparatory school students in Hawassa city, Southern Ethiopia. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional institution based study involving 770 randomly selected youth students of preparatory schools at Hawassa city. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select study subjects. Data was collected using pre-tested and self-administered questionnaire. Data was entered by EPI INFO version 3.5.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 statistical software packages. The result was displayed using descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analysis. Statistical association was done for independent predictors (at p < 0.05). RESULT AND DISCUSSION: About 750 students were participated in this study with a response rate of 97.4%. Among this, about 77.3% of students knew about the presence of SEM and most of the respondents 566(75.5%) were watched SEM films/movies and 554(73.9%) were exposed to SE texts. The overall exposure to SEM in school youths was 579(77.2%). Among the total respondents, about 522(70.4%) claimed as having no open discussion on sexual issues with in their family. Furthermore, About 450 (60.0%) respondents complained for having no sexual and reproductive health education at their school. Male students had faced almost two times higher exposure to SEM than female students (95 % CI: AOR 1.84(C.I = 1.22, 2.78). Students who attended private school were more than two times more likely exposed to SEM than public schools (95 % CI: AOR 2.07(C.I = 1.29, 3.30). Students who drink alcohol and labelled as 'sometimes' were two times more likely exposed to SEM than those who never drink alcohol (95 % CI = AOR 2.33(C.I = 1.26, 4.30). Khat chewers who labelled "rarely", "sometimes" and "often" had shown higher exposure (95 % CI: AOR 3.02(CI = 1.65, 5.52), (95 % CI: AOR 3.40(CI = 1.93, 6.00) and (95 % CI: AOR 2.67(CI = 1.46, 4.86) than those who never chew khat, respectively. Regarding SEM access, school youths with label 'easy access were exposed in odds of six folds than youths of no access (95 % CI: AOR 5.64(C.I = 3.56, 8.9). CONCLUSION: High number of students was exposed to sexually explicit materials. Sex, school type, substance use and access to SEM were observed independent predictors of exposure to SEM. MOTIVATION: The current generation of young people is the healthiest, most educated, and most urbanized in history. However, there still remain some serious concerns. Most people become sexually active during adolescence. Premarital sexual activity is common and is on the rise worldwide. Rates are highest in sub Saharan Africa, where more than half of girls aged 15-19 are sexually experienced. Millions of adolescents are bearing children, in sub-Saharan Africa. More than half of women give birth before age 20. The need for improved health and social services aimed at adolescents, including reproductive health services, is being increasingly recognized throughout the world. Approximately 85 % of world adolescents live in developing countries. Each year, up to 100 million becomes infected with a curable sexually transmitted disease (STI). About 40 % of all new global human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections occur among 15-24 year olds; with recent estimates of 7000 infected each day. These health risks are influenced by many interrelated factors, such as expectations concerning early marriage and sexual relationships, access to education and employment, gender inequities, sexual violence, and the influence of mass media and popular culture. Furthermore, many adolescents lack strong stable relationships with parents or other adults whom they can talk to about their reproductive health concerns. Despite these challenges, programs that meet the information and service needs of adolescents can make a real difference. Successful programs help young people develop life-planning skill, respect the needs and concerns of young people, involve communities in their efforts, and provide respectful and confidential clinical services. Accordingly, the government of Ethiopia now works on improving adolescent's health as one part of MDG (Goal VI-halting transmission of HIV/AIDS, STI, and other communicable diseases) with a focus on adolescents, since they are most affected population. This finding, therefore, will benefit the government to partly evaluate the goal achieving through adolescents exposure status to sexually explicit materials and improvement of sexual issues free talk with in school with class mates and their family at home. For that matter, we authors decided to publish this finding in BMC Reproductive Health Journal so that on line access will be easy to all governing bodies that they use to re-plan their strategies for better product of plan. Moreover, Researchers, Practitioners, policy makers, Students, school leaders and professionals will also benefit from this finding for their future researches references, knowledge gain and practice.

Determinants of Occupational Injury: A Case Control Study among Textile Factory Workers in Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia.

Background. Occupational injuries pose major public health and socioeconomic developmental problems. However, efforts towards investigation of determinants among factory workers are very minimal in developing countries. Thus, this study aimed at to identify determinants of occupational injury among textile factory workers in Amahara regional state in Ethiopia. Methods. A case control study was done among 456 textile factory workers (152 cases and 304 controls). Self-reported data from workers and document review from factories clinics were used to ascertain occupational injury status within one-year period. Data was collected using pretested and structured questionnaire by trained data collectors. Odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to assess level significance. Results. Young age (<30 years) (AOR 1.90, 95% CI (1.22, 2.94)), male gender (AOR 2.54, 95% CI (1.58, 4.07)), health and safety training (AOR 1.85, 95% CI (1.17, 2.91)), sleeping disturbance (AOR 1.99, 95% CI (1.30, 3.04)), and job stress (AOR 2.25, 95% CI (1.15, 4.41)) were significant predictors of occupation injury. Conclusion. Lack of training, sleeping disturbance, and job stress increased the risk of occupational injury. So, providing basic health and safety training with special emphasis on younger and male workers, reducing stressors, and providing sleep health education were recommended.