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Background Oxygen therapy is a lifesaving treatment, however, in Ethiopia, oxygen is not readily available in many healthcare facilities. In 2015, the Federal Ministry of Health launched a national roadmap to increase access to oxygen. This study aims to evaluate whether availability of oxygen and its clinical practice in public hospitals of Ethiopia changed during the time the roadmap was being implemented. Methods Between December 2015 and December 2019, a multifaceted approach was undertaken to increase access to oxygen in public facilities in Ethiopia. The activities included formation of new policies, development of guidelines, procurement and maintenance of oxygen equipment, and training of healthcare workers. To evaluate whether access and use of oxygen changed during this period, facility-based surveys were conducted between December 2015 to December 2019. Primary data, including medical record reviews, were collected from 32 public hospitals bi-annually. A chi-square test that claimed P Results The study was conducted in 32 public hospitals of Ethiopia, where capacity building and technical support interventions implemented. Of these 32 facilities, 15 (46.9%) were general hospitals, 10 (31.2%) were referral hospitals, and 7 (21.9%) were primary hospitals. Functional availability of oxygen has shown a statistically significant increase from 62 to 100% in the pediatric in-patient departments of general and referral hospitals (p-value Conclusions Based on the intervention results, we conclude that multifaceted approaches targeting policy, healthcare workers’ capacity, increased device procurement, and device maintenance programs with on-site mentorship, can improve the availability of medical oxygen and pulse oximetry, as well as clinical practice of oxygen therapy in health facilities. Therefore, ensuring device availability along with regular technical support and close follow-up of healthcare workers and facilities are critical, and these interventions should be scaled further.

Pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of death in children worldwide, accounting for 15% of all deaths in children under the age of five. Hypoxemia is a major cause of death in patients suffering from pneumonia. There is strong evidence that using pulse oximetry and having reliable oxygen sources in health care facilities can reduce deaths due to pneumonia by one-third. Despite its importance, hypoxemia is frequently overlooked in resource-constrained settings. Aside from the limited availability of pulse oximetry, evidence showed that healthcare workers did not use it as frequently to generate evidence-based decisions on the need for oxygen therapy. As a result, the goal of this study was to assess the availability of medical oxygen devices, operating manuals, guidelines, healthcare workers' knowledge, and skills in the practice of hypoxemia diagnosis and oxygen therapy in piloted health centers of Ethiopia. A pre-post non-experimental study design was employed. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect primary data and review medical record charts. A chi-square test with a statistical significance level of P

Additional file 2. HCWs.

Additional file 4. Medical equipment mgt.

Additional file 3. HCW Skill.

Additional file 5. Medical record review Tool.

Additional file 1: Malaria diagnosis and treatment guidelines. depicts the malaria diagnosis and treatment guidelines recommendations. The criteria guide malaria case management for adult uncomplicated outpatients.

Additional file 6. Checklist for Chart Review.

Additional file 1. Health Center Profile.

Background: Oxygen is an essential medicine that saves many children dying of hypoxemia from pneumonia. Nearly more than 95% of deaths occur in developing countries. Similarly, the prevalence of pneumonia is high in Ethiopia. Oxygen therapy is a lifesaving treatment, however, the appropriate use and administration of oxygen in clinical practice is often challenging without knowledge of its potential risks and benefits. Therefore, the study aims to assess the functional availability of oxygen devices and its clinical practice in public hospitals of Ethiopia.Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional time-series design was conducted from December 2015 to December 2019. Primary data was collected from 32 public hospitals bi-annually. Similarly, medical record charts were reviewed retrospectively biannually using interviewer-administered structured questionnaires. A chi-square test that claimed PResults: The study was conducted in thirty-two public hospitals of Ethiopia, where capacity building and technical support interventions implemented. Of which, 15 (46.9%) were General hospitals, and the remaining 10 (31.2%) and 7 (21.9%) were Referral and Primary hospitals respectively. Multifaceted approaches such as on-site and off-site capacity building of healthcare workers, regular mentorship, technical assistance, development of guideline/manuals, oxygen device procurement and maintenance were provided to healthcare workers and health facilities. Functional availability of oxygen has shown a statistically significant increase from 62% to 100% in Pediatric In-patient Department of general and referral hospitals (p-value < 0.001). Similarly, functional availability of Pulse Oximetry has shown statistically significant increased from 45% to 96%. With regard to the clinical practice, SpO2 measurement at diagnosis and admission has increased from 10.2% to 75% and 20.5% to 83% respectively.Conclusions: Based on the intervention results, we can conclude that multifaceted approaches targeting healthcare workers capacity, increased device procurement and on-site device maintenance with on-site mentorship can improve the availability of medical oxygen and pulse oximetry and clinical practice of oxygen therapy in health facilities. Therefore, ensuring device availability along with regular technical support and close follow-up of healthcare workers and facilities are key and the initiative needs to be scaled-up.

Additional file 1. Medical Oxygen and Pulse Oximetry Supportive Supervision Tool.

Background Prelacteal feeding is one of the major harmful newborn feeding practices and is top on the list of global public health concerns. The practice deprives newborns of valuable nutrients and protection of colostrum and exposes them to preventable morbidity and mortality. Studying the prevalence and factors influencing the prelacteal feeding practice of mothers will help program managers and implementers to properly address broad major public health problems. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the prevalence of prelacteal feeding practices and its associated factors among mother-infant dyads in the Debre Berhan district of North Shoa administrative zone, central Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from January through to April 2014 among 634 mother-infant dyads. The data were entered into EPI Info version 3.5.1. (CDC, Atlanta, Georgia). All statistical analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) research IBM version 20.0. The prevalence of prelacteal feeding was determined using the ‘recall since birth’ method. Multi-variable logistic regression analysis was employed to control confounders in determining the association between prelacteal feeding practices and selected independent variables. Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR), with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) and P

Background: As a key partner of Ministry of Health (MOH) Ethiopia, The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) had been implementing the Child Survival Project (CSP) since October 2015. Strengthening DTC was one of its focuses to improve overall supply chain management (SCM). The objectives of this study are to review the evolution of DTCs in Ethiopia from their early years to current practice and identify the major hindering factors for their functionality. Methods: A descriptive study design was employed with mainly qualitative data collection methods and analysis. The assessment made use of both qualitative and quantitative data, generated from primary sources through key informant interviews and from secondary sources through desk review methods. Results: DTCs were introduced in Ethiopia in the early 1980’s. The mandate of DTCs has been given to four different government organizations since this time. As a result, its implementation was lagging. Recently, the government and its partners have given attention to DTCs. More than 5847 professionals underwent DTC training from 2016 onwards. DTC establishment in health facilities (HFs) improved from 85% to 98% between 2015 and 2019 during baseline and endline assessments carried out by CHAI/CSP. Similarly, DTC functionality in HFs improved from 20% to 63%. The CHAI/CSP regular supervision data analysis revealed that DTC establishment improved from 83% to 100% of HFs, while its functionality improved from 5% to 72% between 2016 and 2019, respectively. A chi-square test of independence examining the relationship between facility and pharmacy head training on DTCs and functionality of DTC in the same facility revealed significant association between the two variables at p Conclusions: Providing consistent capacity building and availing strong monitoring and evaluation system improves functionality of DTCs. Moreover, national coordinating bodies for DTCs and similar structures at Regional Health Bureaus and woreda health offices should be established.

Adolescence and youth are the periods for great opportunity and hope in human life. They are the periods between childhood and adulthood where by the young people are expected to undergo major physical, emotional, and social developments, with significant impact on their sexual and reproductive health. This study was aimed at assessing the magnitude and factors associated with risky sexual behaviours (RSB) among in-school youth (15-24) in Lalibela Town, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional institution based quantitative survey was conducted in June, 2014. A systematic random sampling technique was used to get the required sample size of 1362 study participants. A structured pretested and self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The univariate statistical analysis was used to describe the variables using tables and graphs. The multivariable logistic regression model was developed and factors associated with risky sexual behaviour were identified. A total of 1332 in-school youth (ISY) with a 97.8% response rate were included in the study. Five hundred fourteen (38.6%) in-school youth reported that they have initiated sexual intercourse. The mean age at the first sexual experience with standard deviation (Mean ± (SD)) was 15.25 ± (1.85) years, Median = 15 years, Ranges from 11 to 24 years. Among sexually active in-school youth, the prevalence of risky sexual behaviour, students reported at least one of the three risky behaviours which consist of engaging sexual debut before age 18 years, having multiple sexual partners and not consistently using condom was 46.5% (239/514). The odds of having risky sexual behaviour among urban resident ISY was 1.65 times higher than their counterpart (AOR 1.65; 95%CI: 1.12 – 2.43, P-value