ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: According to a WHO report, HIV/AIDS continues to be a major global public health issue, having claimed 36.3 million in 2021 and 37.7 million people living with HIV at the end of 2020, more than two-thirds of whom were in the WHO African Region including sub-Saharan Africa. Among sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia is one of the countries that face an HIV/AIDS epidemic with an estimated 90,000 HIV-positive pregnant women, 14,000 HIV-positive births, 800,000 AIDS orphans, and 28,000 AIDS deaths annually. Thus, this study assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women towards the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Dil Chora Referral Hospital among 242 pregnant women. The simple random sampling method was used to collect the data and respondents were interviewed face to face by using a standard and structured questionnaire. The quality of the data was assured by questionnaire pretesting, translation, and retranslation. After the collection of the data, each questionnaire was thoroughly reviewed for consistency, and completeness by the data collectors, supervisor, and investigators. Then, the data were inserted into Epi Info v3.5 and analyzed using SPSS v24. Descriptive statistics were employed to examine the findings, and the result was presented using tables, charts, and graphs. RESULTS: Two-third (66.7%) of the pregnant women had good knowledge and the remaining one-third (33.3%) had poor knowledge towards mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS and its prevention. A good attitude has been observed among a majority of the respondents (71%) towards the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Unlike the above, only half of the pregnant women (50%) had good practice towards the prevention of mothers to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. CONCLUSION: This study found that half of pregnant women (50%) had poor practice and around one-third of them (29%) had negative attitudes towards the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Therefore, creating a positive attitude and good practice among pregnant women are the most important components for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Different interventions have been done to reduce the burden of soil-transmitted helminths (STH). The available evidences in Ethiopia in either school or community-based school-aged children (SAC) have limitation in wetland areas. This study assessed the prevalence and associated factors of STH infection among SAC in wetland and non-wetland areas of Blue Nile Basins, Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia. METHOD: A community-based comparative study was conducted from October to November, 2019. Multistage stratified random sampling technique used to select 716 SAC. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and observational checklist. Stool samples were collected from children using tight-fitting plastic cups following the standard procedures. Data were coded and entered into Epi data version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 20 software. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to identify factors associated with STH. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of STH was 30.30% (95% CI: 26.90, 33.90) and did not show significant variation between wetland (33.60% (95% CI: 28.80, 39.60%)) and non-wetland (27.0% (95% CI: (21.90, 31.60)) areas. Presence of human feces near the house and certain habits such as nail trimming and playing with mud/soil was not different between wetland and non-wetlands. Nonetheless, the presence of human feces near the house of respondents was found to be significantly associated with STH infection (p value < 0.001). Moreover, other factors significantly associated with STH infection were lack of nail trimming (p value < 0.001) and playing with mud/soil (p value < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of STH was high and did not show significant variation between the two areas. Emphasis needs to be given for hygiene and lifestyle-related factors.
