Gender as a determinant of health in under-five children in Ethiopia; a secondary data analysis from EDHS 2016.

Background: Under-five mortality is one of the key sustainable development goal targets. Despite the great strides made globally, Under-five mortality remains high in many developing countries like Ethiopia. Child health status is determined by a myriad of factors at the individual, family and community level, furthermore, a child's gender has been shown to affect the probability of infant and child mortality. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted using Ethiopian demographic health survey 2016 to assess association between gender and under-five child health. A representative sample of 18,008 households was selected. After data cleaning and entry, analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Uni-variable and multivariable logistic regression model were employed to determine the association between under-five child health and gender. In the final multivariable logistic regression model, the association of gender with childhood mortality was declared statistically significant at P value < 0.05. Result: A total of 2,075 under five children from EDHS 2016 were included in the analysis. Majority (92%) were rural dwellers. More male children were found to be underweight (53% Vs 47%) and wasted (56.2% Vs 43.8%) compared to female children. A higher proportions of females were vaccinated (52.2%) compared to 47.8% in males. Health seeking behavior for fever (54.4%) and diarrheal diseases (51.6%) were also found to be higher for females. However, in a multivariable logistic regression model, there was no statistically significant association found between gender and under-five child children health measures. Conclusion: Although it was not statistically significant association, females were found to have a better health and nutritional outcomes compared to boys in our study.

Assessment of the prevalence and associated risk factors of pediatric hydrocephalus in diagnostic centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Hydrocephalus (HCP) is a common disorder of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) physiology resulting in abnormal expansion of the cerebral ventricles. Infants commonly present with progressive macrocephaly whereas children older than 2 years generally present with signs and symptoms of intracranial hypertension. Neither qualitatively nor quantitatively are there adequate data to determine the prevalence and incidence of HCP in the developing world. HCP is a treatable condition that when left untreated, has fatal consequences. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of pediatric HCP and associated risk factors in diagnostic centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: This study was conducted using a cross-sectional facility-based study design over a two-time period, i.e. a 2-year retrospective data collection from January 2018 to January 2020 included 1101 patients and a prospective data collection from May 2019 to February 2020 included 99 patients. Children aged 5 years and below who came to the selected diagnostic centers for MRI/CT examination were studied. The collected data were analyzed using binary logistic regression. RESULT: The retrospective study included 639(58%) males and 462 (42%) females. The mean age calculated was 22.3 months. Infants aged younger than 24 months 753 (68.4%) were significantly associated with HCP development (P < 0.05). In the retrospective study, HCP etiologies; Aqueductal stenosis (17.9%), Neural Tube defects (NTDs) (35.7%), post-infectious (10.1%) were identified. In the prospective study, the gender and age distribution was 57(57.6%) males, 42 (42.4%) females, 60.6% infants aged younger than 24 months with a mean age of 24.9 months. Inadequate consumption of folic acid and development of HCP was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05). In the prospective study, HCP etiologies; Aqueductal stenosis (26.1%), Neural Tube defects (26.08%), and post-infectious (8.69%) were identified. The 3 years prevalence of HCP calculated in both studies was 22% (223 per 1000 live births). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the high prevalence of HCP was due to the high prevalence of aqueductal stenosis and neural tube defects; with a small contribution of post-infectious causes. The majority of infants who present with HCP were aged younger than 24 months.

PENILE AGENESIS WITH CROSSED FUSED RENAL ECTOPIA.

Penile agenesis is one of the rarest urogenital anomalies with only less than 100 cases reported worldwide so far. Only 3 cases have been reported from Africa and to our knowledge none has been reported from our country Ethiopia. Viability depends on associated anomalies. Urogenital anomalies are the most common associated ones accounting for 54% of cases. This case report is unusual presentation, which is the first reported case of penile agenesis associated with left to right, crossed fused renal ectopia.