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Background: Tuberculosis remains a leading infectious cause of death in resource-limited settings. Effective treatment is the cornerstone of tuberculosis control, reducing mortality, recurrence and transmission. Supporting treatment adherence through facility-based observations of medication taking can be costly to providers and patients. Digital adherence technologies (DATs) may facilitate treatment monitoring and differentiated care. The ASCENT-Ethiopia study is a three-arm cluster randomised trial assessing two DATs with differentiated care for supporting tuberculosis treatment adherence in Ethiopia. This study is part of the ASCENT consortium, assessing DATs in South Africa, the Philippines, Ukraine, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The aim of this study is to determine the costs, cost-effectiveness and equity impact of implementing DATs in Ethiopia. Methods and design: A total of 78 health facilities have been randomised (1:1:1) into one of two intervention arms or a standard-of-care arm. Approximately 50 participants from each health facility will be enrolled on the trial. Participants in facilities randomised to the intervention arms are offered a DAT linked to the ASCENT adherence platform for daily adherence monitoring and differentiated response for those who have missed doses. Participants at standard-of-care facilities receive routine care. Treatment outcomes and resource utilisation will be measured for each participant. The primary effectiveness outcome is a composite index of unfavourable end-of-treatment outcomes (lost to follow-up, death or treatment failure) or treatment recurrence within 6 months of end-of-treatment. For the cost-effectiveness analysis, end-of-treatment outcomes will be used to estimate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted. Provider and patient cost data will be collected from a subsample of 5 health facilities per study arm, 10 participants per facility (n = 150). We will conduct a societal cost-effectiveness analysis using Bayesian hierarchical models that account for the individual-level correlation between costs and outcomes as well as intra-cluster correlation. An equity impact analysis will be conducted to summarise equity efficiency trade-offs. Discussion: Trial enrolment is ongoing. This paper follows the published trial protocol and describes the protocol and analysis plan for the health economics work package of the ASCENT-Ethiopia trial. This analysis will generate economic evidence to inform the implementation of DATs in Ethiopia and globally. Trial registration: Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR) PACTR202008776694999. Registered on 11 August 2020, https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=12241. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Analysis of disaggregated national data suggest uneven access to essential maternal healthcare services within countries. This is of concern as it hinders equitable progress in health outcomes. Mounting an effective response requires identification of subnational areas that may be lagging behind. This paper aims to explore spatial variation in maternal healthcare service use at health centre catchment, village and household levels. Spatial correlations of service use with household wealth and women's education levels were also assessed.Methods: Using survey data from 3758 households enrolled in a cluster randomized trial geographical variation in the use of maternity waiting homes (MWH), antenatal care (ANC), delivery care and postnatal care (PNC) was investigated in three districts in Jimma Zone. Correlations of service use with education and wealth levels were also explored among 24 health centre catchment areas using choropleth maps. Global spatial autocorrelation was assessed using Moran's I. Cluster analyses were performed at village and household levels using Getis Ord Gi* and Kulldorf spatial scan statistics to identify cluster locations.Results: Significant global spatial autocorrelation was present in ANC use (Moran's I = 0.15, p value = 0.025), delivery care (Moran's I = 0.17, p value = 0.01) and PNC use (Moran's I = 0.31, p value < 0.01), but not MWH use (Moran's I = -0.005, p value = 0.94) suggesting clustering of villages with similarly high (hot spots) and/or low (cold spots) service use. Hot spots were detected in health centre catchments in Gomma district while Kersa district had cold spots. High poverty or low education catchments generally had low levels of service use, but there were exceptions. At village level, hot and cold spots were detected for ANC, delivery care and PNC use. Household-level analyses revealed a primary cluster of elevated MWH-use not detected previously. Further investigation of spatial heterogeneity is warranted.Conclusions: Sub-national variation in maternal healthcare services exists in Jimma Zone. There was relatively higher poverty and lower education in areas where service use cold spots were identified. Re-directing resources to vulnerable sub-groups and locations lagging behind will be necessary to ensure equitable progress in maternal health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Efficiency, equity and financial risk protection are key health systems objectives. Equitable distribution of health care is among the priority strategic initiative of the government of Ethiopia. However, data on the distribution of interventions benefits or on disease burden disaggregated by subpopulations to guide health care priority setting is not available in Ethiopia. Methods: Aligned with policy documents, we identified the following groups to be the worse off in the Ethiopian context: under-five children, women of reproductive age, the poor, and rural residents. We used the Delphi technique by a panel of 28 experts to assign a score for 253 diseases/conditions over a period of two days, in phases. The expert panel represented different institutes and professional mix. Experts assigned a score 1 to 4; where 4 indicates disease/condition predominantly affecting the poor and rural residents and 1 indicates a condition more prevalent among the wealthy and urban residents. Subsequently, the average equity score was computed for each disease/condition. Results: The average scores ranged from 1.11 (for vitiligo) to 3.79 (for obstetric fistula). We standardized the scores to be bounded between 1 and 2; 1 the lowest equity score and 2 the highest equity score. The scores for each disease/condition were then assigned to their corresponding interventions. We used these equity scores to adjust the CEA values for each of the interventions. To adjust the CEA values for equity, we multiplied the health benefits (the denominator of the cost-effectiveness value) of each intervention by the corresponding equity scores, resulting in equity adjusted CEA values. The equity adjusted CEA was then used to rank the interventions using a league table. Conclusions: The Delphi method can be useful in generating equity scores for prioritizing health interventions where disaggregated data on the distribution of diseases or access to interventions by subpopulation groups are not available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Persisting within-country disparities in maternal health service access are significant barriers to attaining the Sustainable Development Goals aimed at reducing inequalities and ensuring good health for all. Sub-national decision-makers mandated to deliver health services play a central role in advancing equity but require appropriate evidence to craft effective responses. We use spatial analyses to identify locally-relevant barriers to access using sub-national data from rural areas in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia.Methods: Cross-sectional data from 3727 households, in three districts, collected at baseline in a cluster randomized controlled trial were analysed using geographically-weighted regressions. These models help to quantify associations within women's proximal contexts by generating local parameter estimates. Data subsets, representing an empirically-identified scale for neighbourhood, were used. Local associations between outcomes (antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care use) and potential explanatory factors at individual-level (ex: health information source), interpersonal-level (ex: companion support availability) and health service-levels (ex: nearby health facility type) were modelled. Statistically significant local odds ratios were mapped to demonstrate how relevance and magnitude of associations between various explanatory factors and service outcomes change depending on locality.Results: Significant spatial variability in relationships between all services and their explanatory factors (p < 0.001) was detected, apart from the association between delivery care and women's decision-making involvement (p = 0.124). Local models helped to pinpoint factors, such as danger sign awareness, that were relevant for some localities but not others. Among factors with more widespread influence, such as that of prior service use, variation in estimate magnitudes between localities was uncovered. Prominence of factors also differed between services; companion support, for example, had wider influence for delivery than postnatal care. No significant local associations with postnatal care use were detected for some factors, including wealth and decision involvement, at the selected neighbourhood scale.Conclusions: Spatial variability in service use associations means that the relative importance of explanatory factors changes with locality. These differences have important implications for the design of equity-oriented and responsive health systems. Reductions in within-country disparities are also unlikely if uniform solutions are applied to heterogeneous contexts. Multi-scale models, accommodating factor-specific neighbourhood scaling, may help to improve estimated local associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Malaria is a public health burden and a major cause for morbidity and mortality in Ethiopia. Malaria also places a substantial financial burden on families and Ethiopia's national economy. Economic evaluations, with evidence on equity and financial risk protection (FRP), are therefore essential to support decision-making for policymakers to identify best buys amongst possible malaria interventions. The aim of this study is to estimate the expected health and FRP benefits of universal public financing of key malaria interventions in Ethiopia. Methods: Using extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA), the potential health and FRP benefits were estimated, and their distributions across socio-economic groups, of publicly financing a 10% coverage increase in artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLIN), indoor residual spraying (IRS), and malaria vaccine (hypothetical). Results: ACT, LLIN, IRS, and vaccine would avert 358, 188, 107 and 38 deaths, respectively, each year at a net government cost of $5.7, 16.5, 32.6, and 5.1 million, respectively. The annual cost of implementing IRS would be two times higher than that of the LLIN interventions, and would be the main driver of the total costs. The averted deaths would be mainly concentrated in the poorest two income quintiles. The four interventions would eliminate about $4,627,800 of private health expenditures, and the poorest income quintiles would see the greatest FRP benefits. ACT and LLINs would have the largest impact on malaria-related deaths averted and FRP benefits. Conclusions: ACT, LLIN, IRS, and vaccine interventions would bring large health and financial benefits to the poorest households in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targeted at improving maternal health. In this regard, Ethiopia has shown substantial progresses in the past two decades. Nonetheless, these impressive gains are unevenly distributed among Ethiopian women with different socio-economic characteristics. This study aimed at investigating levels and trends of skilled delivery service, and wealth and education related inequalities from 2000 to 16. Methods: Longitudinal data analysis was conducted on Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data of 2000, 2005, 2011 and 2016. The outcome variable was skilled delivery, while data on economic status and education level were used as dimensions of inequality. Rate Ratio (RR) and Rate Difference (RD) inequality measures were applied. STATA for windows version 10.1 statistical software was utilized for data analysis and presentation. The strength of association of inequality dimensions with the outcome variable was assessed using a 95% confidence interval. Results: From total deliveries, 5.62%, 6.3%, 10.8% and 28% of them were attended by skilled birth attendant in 2000, 2005, 2011 and 2016 respectively. In the most recent survey (EDHS 2016), proportion of births attended by skilled birth attendance among women who completed secondary and above education was about 5.42 [95% CI (4.53, 6.09)] times more when compared to women with no formal education. Proportion of births attended by skilled birth attendance among women in the richest quintile was about 5.11 [95% CI (3.98, 6.12)] times higher than that of women in the poorest quintile. Moreover, gap of inequality on receiving skilled delivery service has increased substantially from 24.2 (2000) to 53.8 (2016) percentage points between women in the richest and poorest quintiles; and from 44.9 (2000) to 76.0 (2016) percentage points between women who completed secondary and above education and women with no formal education. Conclusions: Skilled birth attendance remained low and virtually unchanged during the period 2000-2011, but increased substantially in 2016. Gap on wealth and education related inequalities increased linearly during 2000-16. Most pronounced inequalities were observed in women's level of education revealing women with no formal education were the most underserved subgroups. Encouraging women in education and economic development programs should be strengthened as part of the effort to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While recognizing the recent achievement in the global fight against malaria, the disease remains a challenge to health systems in low-income countries. Beyond widespread consensuses about prioritizing malaria prevention, little is known about the prevailing status of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) across different levels of wealth strata. The aim of this study was to evaluate the socioeconomic related dimension of inequalities in malaria prevention interventions. Methods: This study was conducted in July-August 2014 in Adami Tullu district in the South-central Ethiopia, among 6069 households. A cross-sectional data were collected on household characteristics, LLIN ownership and IRS coverage. Principal component analysis technique was used for ranking households based on socioeconomic position. The inequality was measured using concentration indices and concentration curve. Decomposition method was employed in order to quantify the percentage contribution of each socioeconomic related variable on the overall inequality. Results: The proportion of households with at least one LLIN was 11.6 % and IRS coverage was 72.5 %. The Erreygers normalized concentration index was 0.0627 for LLIN and 0.0383 for IRS. Inequality in LLIN ownership was mainly associated with difference in housing situation, household size and access to mass-media and telecommunication service. Conclusion: Coverage of LLIN was low and significant more likely to be owned by the rich households, whereas houses were sprayed equitably. The current mass free distribution of LLINs should be followed by periodic refill based on continuous monitoring data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]