Behavioral Barriers to Stop Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in South Ethiopia: An Exploratory Qualitative Study of the Perspective of Women.

Background: Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is an act that violates the rights of girls and women and causes serious medical complications. Approximately 200 million women have undergone circumcision in 31 countries. Ethiopia, in particular, has the largest number of women who undergone FGM/C. Unfortunately, there has been minimal research into the reasons for this high prevalence in the country. Hence, this study has been conducted to explore behavioral barriers to stopping FGM/C in Southern Ethiopia. Methods: An exploratory qualitative study was employed from October to November 2021 in two purposively selected zones of Southern Ethiopia. A purposive sampling technique was used to select respondents from the two zones. A total of fourteen study participants were selected and interviewed in-depth to obtain responses from various perspectives. A thematic content analysis was conducted to analyze the data collected from the field. Findings: The study revealed that FGM/C is widely practiced in the study area. Respondents were found to have poor awareness and positive attitude towards continuation of FGM/C. This is possibly due to the social and cultural acceptability of the practice and influences from peers, families, future marriage partners and the community. The study shows that women are more likely to be circumcised because they want to be respected by their community, to be considered eligible for marriage and to avoid stigma and discrimination. Conclusion: The continued practice of FGM/C was in considerable state to require the development of intervention strategies in order to eliminate it by 2030. The study's findings recommend stronger legal actions against those who perform FGM/C, alongside behavior change communication interventions, to improve awareness of its risks and encourage the community to stop FGM/C.

Modern Health Service Utilization and Associated Factors among Adults in Southern Ethiopia.

Background: The Ethiopian government is striving to improve the health status of its population through the expansion and strengthening of primary health care services in both rural and urban settings of the country. The study aimed to measure modern health service utilization and associated factors in Wolaita Sodo town, Ethiopia. Method: A cross-sectional study design was implemented from May to June 2019 in Wolaita Sodo town, Ethiopia. All 786 study participants were selected by multistage systematic random sampling. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews using a pretested structured questionnaire. Data were collected by an open data kit. Stata window version 15.0 was also employed for statistical analysis. Multiple logistic regression was conducted, and a 95% confidence interval was considered for interpretation. Result: Health service utilization was 77.2% with (95% CI of 74.1%, 80.0%). In terms of health facilities in which they visit, first 50.6% were at the public health center and 25.5% of them were at Teaching and Referral Hospital. Respondents with marital status married and widowed have higher odds of utilizing health services compared to single marital status (AOR: 2.96; 95% CI: 1.7-5.2 and 9.0; 95% CI: 1.69-48.0), respectively. Respondents with middle and highest wealth status have higher odds of health service utilization than poor wealth status with AOR (1.75 95% CI 1.03-2.97 and 1.58 95% CI; 1.01, 2.77). Similarly, respondents who had chronic disease and perceived poor health status have higher odds of health service utilization. Conclusion: Modern health services utilization was found to be unsatisfactory. Being married, wealth status being middle and high, having chronic health conditions, and having poor perceived health status were found to have a statistically significant association with health service utilization.

Prevalence of Active Trachoma and Associated Factors in Areka Town, South Ethiopia, 2018.

BACKGROUND: Globally, 1.2 billion people live in trachoma endemic areas, 40.6 million people are suffering from active trachoma, and 48.5% of the global burden of active trachoma is distributed in five countries including Ethiopia. However, there is no evidence or no conducted survey/research data or document regarding trachoma prevalence in Areka Town. We, therefore, did a study to assess the prevalence of active trachoma and associated factors in Areka Town in South Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was employed. A total of 586 children aged 1-9 years were involved. We compiled a structured questionnaire from the relevant literature and pretested before use. A range of data was collected on the sociodemographic, facility, and service-related, and environmental factors. The outcome variable was measured by using frequencies, cross-tabulation, and percent. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to control potential confounders and to identify the predictors. RESULTS: This study revealed that 37.9% of children aged 1-9 years have active trachoma (95% CI: 34%-42%). Households without latrine (AOR = 6.88; 95% CI: 2.13-22.18), openly disposing domestically produced waste (AOR = 4.62; 95% CI: 2.41-8.83), cooking in the same room (AOR = 5.13; 95% CI: 2.21-11.88), and using the cooking room without a window (AOR = 2.28; 95% CI: 1.11-4.69) were more likely to have their children develop active trachoma. Similarly, children with caretakers having inadequate knowledge about trachoma (AOR = 8.10; 95% CI: 2.04-32.17) were more likely to develop active trachoma. However, households consuming more than 20 liters of water per day were 82% (AOR = 0.18; 95% CI: 0.07-0.44) less likely to have their children develop active trachoma while compared to those consuming less than the figure. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of active trachoma in the children aged 1-9 years in the study area was found to be high, and it is much higher than the WHO elimination threshold.

Risk Factors of Underweight in Children Aged 6-59 Months in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Undernutrition in early childhood has irreversible and long-lasting implications. Hence, this study was aimed at assessing risk factors of child undernutrition. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 642 households with mothers to children pairs aged 6-59 months selected by a multistage systematic random sampling method. Child anthropometric measurements on weight were recorded using standardized and calibrated weighing scales. Weight-for-age was compared to the 2007 WHO growth reference by WHO Anthro software. Data were entered using Epi-Info and analyzed using SPSS. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between underweight children and their predictors; both crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were reported. RESULTS: One-fourth (25%) of the children were underweight. Child age (AOR: 2.36), gender (AOR: 1.82), illness (AOR: 0.09), maternal decision making power (AOR: 0.07), maternal education (AOR: 0.19), employment/occupation (AOR: 5.29), and household income (AOR: 4.16) were found to be independent and significant predictors of underweight children. CONCLUSION: Significant proportion of the children were underweight. Maternal decision-making power persists as a strong predictor of children's weight. Therefore, intervention programs focusing on improving mothers' decision-making power on child nutrition would contribute to the efforts towards alleviating the problem.