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Since the 1970s, the Government of Ethiopia has implemented villagization, whereby nomadic pastoralist groups are supported to develop (more) sedentary lifestyles and livelihoods. Villagization has been officially promoted to encourage diversification from livestock herding to agricultural cultivation, and to fulfil basic needs through infrastructure and services. From the late 2000s, villagization was reintroduced for arid and semi-arid regions as a strategy for adaptation to climate change, as part of the country's green growth agenda. The aim of this paper is to evaluate to what extent this phase of villagization has contributed to adaptation strategies among pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, based on an empirical analysis of four villagised sites in the Middle Awash Valley using qualitative data collected between 2014 and 2018. Perceptions and experiences of villagization varied across individuals, households, villages, and districts. While villagization has generally delivered infrastructure and services, and offered income diversification to those able to access irrigated agriculture, its implementation has been partial and uneven, and it has reproduced previous problems of resource scarcity while creating new risks and vulnerabilities. We argue that villagization may play a role in some aspects of adaptation, if programmes address the drivers of livelihood change, and embed equity and rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: Famines and food shortages are one of the most common long time histories of Ethiopia. Hence, malnutrition has been persisted at alarming raters in the country. Moreover, it is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Afar National Regional State of Ethiopia. Specifically, in Amibara and Awash Fentale districts. The anthropometric data were presented on height, weight, MUAC, weight/height/Age and Body Mass Index (BMI) of under-five children. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted from March 01, 2017 to June 15, 2018. The data was collected by using anthropometric measurement. A multi stage random sampling procedure was applied in order to recruit the required sample size. The data collections were conducted at two selected districts in Afar region by trained interviewers and health care providers. The data were analyzed by using SPSS Version 23. Bivariate analysis between dependent and independent variables was employed. Multivariate analysis was also done to control for possible confounding variable by selecting variable which show statistically significant association (P < 0.05). RESULTS: Out of 410 under five children's anthropometric finding, the majorities (62.7%) of those registered under five children were male and (33.3%) were female. The majority (46.8%) of under five children were less than or equal to 50 cm by their height. Most (54.1%) of under five children were less than or equal to 12.5 cm by their MUAC. It indicated that they were diagnosed with severe malnutrition based on anthropometric measurements. Meanwhile, majority (64%) of under five children were less than 60% their weight/age. Regression analysis result indicated that all of the variables were not significant predictors of BMI for under five children (P > 0.05). Based on ANOVA result, there was significant difference between sex and other predictors (P = 0.031). This finding implies that improvement in food aid and poverty alleviation programs are very important. Based on the finding, it is important to provide high quality and quantity of food. Moreover, less access to assets and health services commonly contributed for malnutrition. Highlighting under five children's malnutrition will help to develop and design future policies and programs in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Drought is a serious issue which might be caused by climate change that could create famine and health problems. Drought reduces air quality, increases fungal infestation, reduces people hand washing, affects mental health, leads to malnutrition by decreasing agricultural production, and increases diseases transmitted by insects. This study aimed to determine and describe community health status through building drought resilience in Ethiopia. METHODS: This review was conducted based on the available peer-reviewed articles that were published from January 2004 to December 2018 Online databases from PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, EMBASE and Google Scholar were searched for studies related to the building drought and community health resilience at different regions of Ethiopia that were published in English language. The search was made by using "Emergency disaster", "prevention", "preparedness", "response", "recovery", "drought", "food insecurity", "coping strategies" and "drought health policy" as keywords. RESULTS: Most of the reviewed articles deal with the impact of climate change on the human health in relation to food security. The associated factors of the impact of drought on food security is basically due to lack of irrigation and farmland, the scarcity of water due to the direct effect of drought, flood, severe soil erosion, livestock dispossession, family size of the household and literacy of the households. Various coping strategies were employed by the households to alleviate the high and continued food insecurity problem such as reducing the number and amount of meal, scrounging cash and grain, searching for off-farm and non-farm jobs, getting food aid, vending of livestock, and partake in food for work programs. CONCLUSION: The findings explored components of the coping strategies to the building resilience create fruitful health conditions for the food insecure household. The effect of agricultural support services as reliance's on drought and community health situation was regarded as a positive outcome. Moreover, the means to get adequate food security strategies in all regions of Ethiopia should be designed. Furthermore, future researches are recommended for finding the best building strategies for each region of Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the prevalence, level of severity of potential drug-drug interactions (PDDIs) and the associated factors for PDDIs in hospitalized pediatric patients of Gondar University Hospital. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted for a period of 3 months from March to May 2014 in pediatric wards of Gondar University Hospital. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select charts from all pediatric patients' charts with every 7th interval to get sample size of 384. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to compute crude odds ratio and adjusted odds ratio respectively. Statistical significance was set at P value < 0.05. Results: A total of 176 (45.8%) patients had at least one PDDI. A total of 393 PDDIs, which were comprised of 283 types of interacting combinations, were identified. Of the total of 393 PDDIs, most were of moderate severity [201 (51%)] followed by minor [152 (39%)] and major severity [40 (10%)]. The most common interacting pairs of major severity were gentamicin + furosemide (6), cotrimoxazole + methotrexate (4) and phenytoin + artemether (4). The occurrence of PDDIs was significantly associated with age and polypharmacy. Conclusions: The study showed that most of the interactions had moderate severity followed by minor severity. Age and polypharmacy were found to show statistically significant association with the occurrence of PDDIs. Due to sensitive nature of pediatrics population, close monitoring is recommended for the detection and management of PDDIs to prevent its negative consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/land cover changes in a lake drainage basin reflect changes in the magnitude of the water balance components and rate of sediment deposition in a lake as a reflection of the fundamental linkage between what happens in a lake considered against what is happening in the drainage basin of the lake. The objective of this study was to quantify the spatio-temporal land cover/land use changes across the Lake Hayq closed drainage basin in north-east Ethiopia over a 50-years period, using multitemporal remote sensing and geospatial data. Two historical occasions of aerial photographs (1957 and 1986) and one satellite image (2007) were examined with image analysis tools: Leica Photogrammetric Suite ( LPS 9.2) Project Manager, ArcGIS10.0, and ERDAS EMAGINE 9.2. Seven aerial coverage of land use/land cover categories were identified and mapped for the past three historical times. The results indicated that farmlands/settlements and shrublands/degraded lands increased by 43.1% and 136.9%, at an annual rate of 27.4 and 13.5 ha year−1, respectively, between 1957 and 2007. In contrast, bushlands, grasslands, forestlands and lake surface area were diminished by 68.8%, 62.7%, 90.5% and 7.6%, at a rate of 24.0, 7.6, 6.1 and 3.7 ha year−1, respectively, over the past five decades. The basin had undergone significant transformation in land use/land cover over the past half century, affecting the lake's biophysical stability by accelerating soil erosion in the basin, sediment accumulation, and a reduced quantity and quality of cumulative stream flow into the lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of scientific information for improved understating of the physical dynamics of a lake is fundamental for guiding lake stakeholders and managers at the local level to implement best management practices and help design effective management strategies and policies at higher levels. Multitemporal bathymetric information on lakes is very important in hydrology and sediment studies to more clearly indicate environmental changes and to understand the effects of land processes on the hydrology of lakes. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to map bathymetric charts of Lake Hayq in Ethiopia and to derive morphometric parameters, including depth, volume, area, width and length, and to plot curves illustrating the relationships between these parameters. The bathymetric survey was carried out using a combination of a SonarLite Portable Echo Sounder and Global Positioning System ( GPS) to generate three-dimensional ( XYZ) hydrographic data. Surfer 8.01 and Arc GIS 9.3 software program were used for surface, gridding and morphometric analyses. Comparison of the results of this study with a previous study conducted in 1941 indicated the lake has experienced changes in depth and surface area. To reduce the negative impacts of human-induced activities on the ecohydrology of the lake, and to maintain its ecological integrity, appropriate and integrated lake management practices must be adopted. This will necessitate policy formulation, active lake basin stakeholder involvement and implementation of basin-wide lake management to ensure sustainable use of the lake and its basin resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]