Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards hepatitis B and C virus infection and associated factors among adults living at selected woredas in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver tissue. It is one of the serious public health problems. Though an individuals' knowledge, attitude, and practice level is very vital in order to ensure the control of its adverse health impacts, little is known regarding these issues in the community level. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice towards hepatitis B and C virus infection and associated factors among adults living at selected woredas in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia. METHODS: Community based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 633 adults living at selected woredas in Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia. Data were collected by pretested, well-structured questionnaire. The collected data were checked, coded and entered into Epi-data version 4.6.0.2 and were exported to SPSS version 25 for analyses. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression were done to identify independent factors associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice towards hepatitis B and C virus infection. RESULTS: According to this study, 366(58.1%), 95% CI: (54.23-61.96) of the participants had good knowledge. 381(60.5%), 95% CI: (56.65-64.30) of the participants had favourable attitude. 317(50.3%), 95% CI: (46.40-54.23) of the participants had good practice. From factor analysis, sex, number of sexual partners, sharing sharp material, and vaccination status were significantly associated with knowledge; residence, occupational status, income level, sharing sharp material, and vaccination status were significantly associated with attitude; and residence, occupational status, and vaccination status were identified to be significantly associated with practice towards Hepatitis B and C virus infection. CONCLUSION: Based on the study findings, it could be observed that good knowledge, favourable attitude, and good practice were indicated nearly above the half, only by half, and nearly above the half of the study participants respectively. Implementing actions that could increase awareness regarding limiting the number of sexual partner, not sharing sharp materials, and urbanization is recommended. Moreover, woreda administrators, and other related authorities should consider knowledge, attitude, and practice as an implementation area, and also it would be better to create an opportunities to promote vaccination practices.

Association between maternal age and adverse perinatal outcomes in Arba Minch zuria, and Gacho Baba district, southern Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Globally, delayed childbearing to the advanced age is a growing option. It is an emerging public health issue in developing countries. Currently, adverse perinatal outcomes significantly increased. A few studies showed the effect of advanced maternal age on adverse perinatal outcomes. However, most used secondary data or chart reviews, and this increases the risk of biases. Besides, there are limited studies in-country Ethiopia as advanced maternal age steadily increased. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the status of advanced maternal age and its effect on perinatal outcomes in the study setting. METHODS: A community-based prospective cohort study was conducted among 709 study participants from October 15, 2018, to September 30, 2019, in Arba Minch zuria, and Gacho Baba district, southern Ethiopia. The data were collected by a pretested interviewer-administered structured Open Data Kit survey tool and analyzed by SPSS version 25. The log-linear regression model was used to compare perinatal outcomes among women aged 20-34 years and ≥ 35 years. The log-likelihood ratio tested for the goodness of fit. In this study, P-value < 0.05 was considered to declare a result as a statistically significant association. RESULTS: In this study, 209(29.5%) of the women were age group ≥35 years old, and 500(70.5%) were age group from20-34 years old. Stillbirth (ß = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.05, 0.52), and neonatal mortality (ß = 0.11, 95%CI: 0.01, 0.21) were significantly associated with the advanced maternal age. CONCLUSIONS: Perinatal outcomes such as stillbirth and neonatal mortality were independently associated with advanced maternal age after controlling for possible cofounders. Therefore, different strategies should design for the women who planned to bear child, and information should provide for women who are advanced age or delayed childbearing to alert them.