Knowledge, Perceptions, Satisfaction, and Readiness of Health-Care Providers Regarding COVID-19 in Northern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: To protect health-care providers (HCPs) from COVID-19, the WHO recommends applying basic principles of infection prevention and control measures at all health-care facilities. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, perceptions, satisfaction, and readiness of HCPs regarding COVID-19 in Tigrai, Ethiopia in 2020. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 1 to July, 2020. Data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire. Multistage sampling followed by purposive sampling were used to recruit study subjects. SPSS 21 was used to compute proportions and χ2 to identify risk factors. RESULTS: Of 765 participants, 88% had adequate knowledge, close to a third showed positive perceptions and were satisfied with their job and nearly a quarter demonstrated readiness to prevent and control COVID-19. Education, knowledge, readiness, perceptions, and job satisfaction with associated with type and readiness of health facilities. CONCLUSION: Despite adequate knowledge of the HCPs about COVID-19, their perceptions and job satisfaction are a concern for the health-care system. Only one in five HCPs was found to be ready to prevent and control COVID-19. Efforts should be exerted to improve perceptions, job satisfaction, and readiness of HCPs to fight COVID-19.

Tuberculosis treatment outcome: The case of women in Ethiopia and China, ten-years retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Every year tuberculosis kills above half million women all over the world. Nonetheless, the factor affecting TB treatment outcome of women was less frequently studied and compared among countries. Hence, this study was aimed to measure and compare outcome of treatment and the death size of these two countries. METHOD: Socio demographic and clinical data of women treated for all form of tuberculosis in the past ten years 2007-2016 were collected from total of eight hospitals and six treatment centers of Tigray and Zigong respectively. Then, we measured the magnitude of TB, level of treatment success and identify factors associated with the unsuccessful TB outcome. RESULT: In the past ten years, a total of 5603(41.5%) and 4527 (24.5%) tuberculosis cases were observed in Tigray and Zigong respectively. Of those with treatment outcome record a total of 2602(92%) in Tigray and 3916(96.7%) in Zigong were successfully treated. Total of 170 (6%) cases in Tigray and 36(0.8%) cases in Zigong were dead. In Tigray, retreatment cases (aOR, 0.29; 95% CI: 0.16-0.53) and MDR-TB cases (aOR, 0.31; 95% CI: 0.003, 0.27) were less likely to show treatment success. However,, HIV co-infected TB cases (aOR, 3.58; 95% CI: 2.47, 5.18) were more likely to show treatment success compared with unknown HIV status. In Zigong, women with MDR TB (aOR, 0.90; 95%CI: 0.24, 0.34) were less likely to show treatment success and women in the age category of 15-49 (aOR, 1.55; 95% CI: 1.08, 2.206) were more likely to show treatment success. CONCLUSION: Big number of tuberculosis cases and death were observed in Tigray comparing with Zigong. Hence, a relevant measure should be considered to improve treatment outcome of women in Tigray regional state.

Epidemiology of childhood tuberculosis and factors associated with unsuccessful treatment outcomes in Tigray, Ethiopia: a ten-year retrospective cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Childhood TB is an indicator of a recent transmission of the disease in a community and it is estimated to constitute 15-20% of all TB cases in many of developing countries. However, only few studies which dominated by industrial countries were engaged to assess the situation. Therefore, this study was aimed to see epidemiology of childhood TB and factors associated with poor treatment outcome in developing country. METHOD: Using retrospective cross-sectional study design; Socio-demographic and clinical data of children aged less than 15 years old, treated for all forms of TB in the past 10 years (2007-2016) was collected from randomly selected eight public hospitals of Tigray. Then, Univariate logistic regression and adjusted multivariate logistic regressions was done to identify variables which had association with unsuccessful treatment outcomes at P-value less than 0.05. RESULT: In the past 10 years, a total of 13,345 Tuberculosis cases were observed. Of these, 1086 (8.1%) cases were children aged less than 15 years old. Sixty seven (6.2%) cases were smear positive. Among those that tested for HIV, 69 (8.3%) cases were TB/HIV co-infected. Of those with treatment outcome record 746 (88.7%) were successfully treated. Factors like being female (AOR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.07-3.00), Age 0-5 years (AOR, 3.35; 95% CI, 2.11-5.33), Unknown HIV status (AOR, 2.44; 95% CI, 1.51-3.95) and pulmonary positive case (AOR, 2.56; 95% CI, 1.13-5.77), were more likely to have unsuccessful treatment outcome than their counterparts. CONCLUSION: In Tigray 8.1% all TB cases were children age less than 15 years old. Childhood TB treatment outcome varied with sex, age and HIV status.

Role of socioeconomic status and housing conditions in geriatric depression in rural China: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: The primary aim of this study was to describe the socioeconomic status (SES), housing conditions and depression of the elderly in rural China, as well as to examine the associations between depression and SES and housing conditions using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study. SETTING: A nationally representative sample of elderly in rural China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 4585 elderly adults in 2015 in rural China. OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence and risk factors of depression among rural elderly. RESULTS: Among the participants in this study, approximately 46.15% (2116/4585) reported depressive symptoms (10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale [CESD-10] score >10) in rural China. The results revealed significant associations between higher scores on CESD-10 (indicating more symptoms of depression) and lowest personal annual income (OR=1.63, 95% CI 1.290 to 2.060), polluting cooking fuel (OR=1.16, 95% CI 1.018 to 1.321), toilet without seat (OR=1.273, 95% CI 1.056 to 1.535), as well as having no bath facility (OR=1.172, 95% CI 1.025 to 1.341) after adjustment for confounders. CONCLUSION: Elderly in rural China experienced severe depressive symptoms. Lowest personal annual income, polluting cooking fuel, toilet without seat and having no bath facility were significantly associated with more depressive symptoms. Caution needs to be taken in generalising the findings of this study to the rest of the population in China since its highly selected sample.