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Background The world is being challenged by the COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in a universal concern and economic hardship. It is a leading public health emergency across the globe in general and developing countries in particular. Strengthening good preventive behavior is the best way to tackle such pandemics. Objective The study assessed preventive behavior and associated factors towards COVID-19 among residents of Qellam Wallaga Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2020. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted with a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected by interview and analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Binomial logistic regression was used to test the association between the variables. An Adjusted Prevalence with 95% CI was used to express the associations and interpret the findings. Results Among 634 participants, 417(65.8%) were from urban residences, and 347 (54.7%) belongs to a female. Age ranges 18 years through 87 years. Only 68(10.7%) participants showed good preventive behavior for COVID-19. The majority of them (84.7%) perceived that the disease is very dangerous and 450(71.0%) of them believe that they are at high risk. More than 17% of the respondents have sufficient knowledge. Respondents with sufficient knowledge about COVID-19 were about 2 times more likely to exercise good preventive behavior compare to those with insufficient knowledge, [(APR: 2.1; 95% CI: [1.2, 3.9)]. The urban residents was 3.3 more than that of rural residents to practice good preventive behavior, [(APR: 3.3; 95% CI: [1.6, 6.4)]. Respondents who use social media as a source of information were more than 2 times more likely to have good preventive behavior compared to those who did not, [(APR: 2.3; 95% CI: [1.3, 3.4)]. Conclusion Adoptions of COVID-19 preventive behavior in the study population is very low. Due emphasis should be given to rural residents. Risk communication activities should be strengthened through effective community engagement to slow down and stop the transmssion of the disease in the community.

Use of Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19, two case series were recently compiled in China examining the therapeutic use of CP in patients with COVID-19...

Female genital mutilation is still a serious health problem in Ethiopia. Female genital mutilation conceptualizes harmful traditional practice and is among existing traditional attitudes and practices on practice in different corners of the world. Other than demographic and health survey data, studies showing the prevalence of female genital mutilation is scarce and in some areas nonexistent. Its existence is only, time and again recognized as the practice has various health, social and psychological adversities. This study team found it imperative as the problem warranty study with the aim to assess prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM) as well as identifying its associated factors among high school students. Institution based cross sectional study design was employed. 95% confidence level and 3% margin of error were used to study the magnitude and associated factors of FGM among 798 high school and preparatory students. A multi stage sampling procedure was employed to select female students in the schools. This research showed percentages and association among the variables by univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis. Data were collected from 769 study participants with a response rate of 96.4%. About 78%, 95% CI (74.9%, 80.7%) of the study participants underwent the procedure. Age ≥17 [AOR=1.8, 95% CI (1.28, 2.61)], grades 11 and 12 [AOR =2.98; 95% CI (1.45, 6.12)] and [AOR=6.52, 95% CI (1.85, 22.94)], respectively, being from rural area [AOR= 1.6, 95% CI (1.01, 2.52)], and house wife and merchant mother occupation [AOR= 2.38, 95% CI (1.07, 5.29)] and [AOR= 2.72, 95% CI (1.04, 7.12)], respectively were independently associated to higher prevalence of female genital mutilation. Irrespective of different forms of interventions in the country, the prevalence of female genital mutilation is still very high in the study area. This study thus revealed that palatable and very convenient intervention strategies need to be crafted to curb the problem at large and for those rural villagers who are at higher risk in particular. Key words: Female genital mutilation (FGM), high school students, Ethiopia.

Cigarette smoking is one of the public health problems which killed about 100 million people in the 20th century and supposed to kill about one billion people in the 21st century if the pattern of its consumption continues. Currently the prevalence of smoking is increasing at the global level and highly associated with increased rate of mortality and morbidity. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of smoking and its associated factors among undergraduate students of Jigjiga University. A descriptive institutional based cross sectional study design was employed on 648 students. Self-administered structured questionnaire which was adopted and developed from different previously conducted studies was used to collect data. Data were entered using epi data 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 16.0 for further analysis. Descriptive statistics were done in the form of graphs and tables to summarize data. Data were analysed through univariate for frequencies, and percentage; bivariate analysis to see association between dependent and independent variables and logistic regression to see the independent effect of selected variables on the status of substance using odds ratio. From the total study participants 87 (14.5%) of them smokes and 32 (36.8%) of them smokes greater 12 than cigarettes per week. students at 3rd year of study were at higher chance of smoking cigarette, AOR=17.89 (95% CI=5.21, 61.42), and the odds of smoking cigarette was higher among year 4 and above students comparing with those at year 2, AOR=30.08 (95% CI=6.56, 137.21). Similarly students who chew khat were about 27 times likely to smoke, AOR 27.23 (95% CI=9.47, 78.31) compared with those who didn’t chew khat. Generally the prevalence of smoking among undergraduate Jigjiga university students was 14.5%. Student’s cigarette smoking was significantly associated to year of study; students ever khat chewing habit, ever drinking alcohol and ever drug use.