Women's Decision-Making Power on Modern Family Planning Use and Its Associated Factors in Northwest Ethiopia.

Introduction: Poor decision-making power on family planning among married women is a public health concern. Despite this, there is a scarcity of research done on decision-making power of family planning use as one of their basic human rights. The study is aimed at determining the magnitude of married women's decision-making power on family planning use and its associated factors. Methods: This was a community-based cross-sectional study that was conducted on married women from May, 01-30/2021. A multistage systematic random sampling technique was applied to select 620 eligible study participants. The study used semi-interviewer questionnaires to collect data, and the collected data were entered into EpiInfo version 3.7.2 and then exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used. The strength of associations of variables was described by using odds ratio, 95% confidence level, and P values less than 0.05. Results: A total of 620 women were interviewed with 98% of the response rate. Overall, married women's decision-making power on family planning was 440 (71.0%). Odds of decision-making power on family planning use were higher among women who have primary education (AOR = 11.31, CI: 4.90-26.09) and secondary and above (AOR = 6.99, CI: 3.89-12.56) as compared with those who have no education. Husbands with secondary and above educational level (AOR = 3.27, CI: 1.58-6.78), having good knowledge about family planning use (AOR = 2.41, CI: 1.48-3.95) and having a good attitude towards family planning (AOR = 6.59, CI: 4.01-10.75), had higher odds of decision-making power on family planning. Conclusion: Women's educational status, knowledge, and attitude increased the odds of decision-making power on family planning. Therefore, the authors recommend awareness creation on family planning considering lower educational level as a priority to improve women's decision-making power.

Indigenous Knowledge of Medicine for COVID-19 or Related Disease in Benishangul Gumuz Regional State: Phenomenological Design.

Purpose: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory viral infectious disease transmitted by respiratory and fomites. The incidence of this disease is growing exponentially and affects millions of the world population. Consequently, it has become most urgent public health risk. Thus, the intention of this research is searching indigenous knowledge on COVID-19 and related infectious disease prevention and mitigation mechanisms which were not scientifically known. Therefore, this study targeted to explore local traditional knowledge of (COVID-19) or related diseases in the study area. Methods: Phenomenological design was used to explore traditional knowledge of medicine. The source populations were all elder peoples, who were known for their traditional medicine. The individuals were purposively selected from source population by using snowball sampling technique. Since study was qualitative method, the sample size was determined by the level of saturation of information as result 40 study participants were interviewed and recorded their audio using tape recorder. Then, data were analyzed using a thematic analysis with a combination of inductive and deductive methods. Results: The study reveals that coronavirus like disease was appeared past times. Such diseases were called "Alwoba" or "Marya" which is named by the local language and it has similar signs and symptoms with coronavirus disease. The key informants reported that traditional medicines were available that cured those diseases. This study infers there had been COVID-19 related diseases about 100 years back because those diseases had a similar symptoms and ways of transmission with COVID-19. They use different types of traditional medicines for those diseases which have been inherited to generations and cured them. Conclusion: This evidence explored that the existence of traditional medicine for COVID-19 related diseases. Hence, this study strongly suggested that to undertake experimental research for medical approval on the available traditional medicine.

Barriers to Maternal and Child Health Care Service Uptake in Assosa Zone, Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia: A Qualitative Study.

BACKGROUND: Ethiopia has reduced maternal mortality from 871 to 412 per 100,000 live births between 2000 and 2016. In 2019, under-5 mortality rates in Ethiopia were 55 deaths per 1,000 live births. Benishangul Gumuz was the second-largest region in the under-5 mortality rate (98/1,000 live births) in the country. Maternal and child health care service uptake is an important indicator of health outcomes. This study is aimed at exploring major barriers to maternal and child health care uptake in Assosa Zone. METHODS: This study was conducted in the Bambasi, Menge, and Sherkole districts of the Assosa Zone from July 17 to August 31/2019. The study explored the life experience of study participants about MCH services. The sampling technique was purposive, and data collection methods were focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed thematically. RESULT: The main barriers to child health care services were financial problems, lack of knowledge, preference of traditional medicines for a sick child, women having no time to care for their sick child, poor roads. poor health facility readiness, the poor economy of families, lack of ambulance, cultural and traditional beliefs, providers being male, and unprofessional behaviors which were the major barriers hindering the uptake of maternal health service utilization. CONCLUSION: Poor health facility readiness, indirect costs, inaccessibility to health facilities, and cultural and traditional practices were among the major barriers to service uptake identified by this research in the study area.

Complementary feeding practices among children in Benishangul Gumuz Region, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Appropriate complementary feeding helps to reduces child's risk of undernutrition, infectious disease and related mortality. However, complementary feeding practices are sub-optimal in Ethiopia. There is, however, also limited evidence in the country, particularly of Pawie District. Therefore, this study aimed to assess timely initiation of complementary feeding and associated factors among mothers who had children aged 6-23 months in Pawie District, Benishangul Gumuz Regional State. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Pawie District from February 01 to March 29, 2015. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select 806 mother-child pairs. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to investigate factors associated with timely initiation of complementary feeding. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with corresponding 95% Confidence Interval was calculated to show the strength of association. A p value of <0.05 was used to declare significance of association. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of timely initiation of complementary feeding was 61.8%. One quarter (23.7%) of children had good dietary diversity and 32.7% of children aged 12-23 months were fed with appropriate meal frequency. Mother's place of residence: urban settlement [AOR = 2.11, 95% CI 1.47, 3.02] and postnatal checkup [AOR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.15, 2.45] were significantly associated with timely initiation of complementary feeding. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of timely initiation of complementary feeding was low in Pawie District. Therefore, further strengthening maternal postnatal care utilization is a key to improve timely initiation of complementary feeding. Moreover, attention needs to be given to the rural mothers.