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Background A decrease in obtaining quality healthcare is a major cause of maternal and newborn deaths in low-income and middle-income countries. Ethiopia has one of the highest neonatal mortality rates. Increasing mothers’ health-seeking practices related to neonatal danger signs is an essential strategy for reducing the death rate of newborns. However, the pooled prevalence of mothers’ health-seeking practices related to neonatal danger signs is not well known in Ethiopia.Objective The main aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to assess the mothers’ health-seeking practices and associated factors towards neonatal danger signs in Ethiopia.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Primary and secondary outcomes The primary outcome was to assess the mothers’ health-seeking practices towards neonatal danger signs and the secondary outcome was to identify factors associated with health-seeking practices.Methods In total, comprehensive literature was searched in the PubMed, Google Scholar, HINARI, Embase and CINAHL databases published up to 30 December 2023. A random effect model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence and adjusted OR (AOR). Stata (V.17.0) was used to analyse the data. I2 statistics were computed to assess heterogeneity among studies. To minimise the underlying heterogeneity, a subgroup analysis was conducted based on the study region and year of publication. To assess publication bias, Egger’s test and funnel plots were used.Results Overall, 1011 articles were retrieved, and 11 cross-sectional studies, with a total of 5066 study participants, were included in this systematic review. The overall pooled prevalence of mothers’ health-seeking practices for neonatal danger signs in Ethiopia was 52.15%. Postnatal care follow-up (AOR 2.72; 95% CI 1.62 to 4.56), good maternal knowledge (AOR 3.20, 95% CI 2.24 to 4.56), educational status of secondary school and above (AOR 4.17, 95% CI 2.04 to 8.55), women’s decision-making autonomy (AOR 3.59, 95% CI 1.60 to 8.06) and place of delivery (AOR 2.71, 95% CI 1.21 to 6.04) were significantly associated with mothers’ health-seeking practices for neonatal danger signs.Conclusion The maternal health-seeking practices of women towards neonatal danger signs were found to be low in Ethiopia. When barriers to seeking care for newborn danger signs are successfully removed, women’s practices for seeking care for neonatal danger signs could decrease perinatal mortality.

Introduction: There were approximately 38 million human immune deficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome cases worldwide in 2019, of which 36.2 million were adult cases, of these 25.4 million had access to antiretroviral therapy. The desire to have children among human immune virus-infected people has significant implications for the transmission of the human immune virus. In many developing countries such as Ethiopia, where the prevalence of the human immune virus is high, the risk of human immune virus transmission to the baby is inevitable. Objective: This study’s objective is to evaluate fertility desire and associated factors among antiretroviral therapy users at South Gondar public hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: A multicenter institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among patients attending antiretrio viral therapy at South Gondar Zone public hospitals, from April 1 to May 30, 2022. A total of 551 study participants were selected using systematic random sampling. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire. The data were entered into Epi-Data version 4.6 and then exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with the outcome variable, and adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to determine the level of significance. Result: The study included 551 participants with a 100% response rate. The prevalence of fertility desire among antiretroviral therapy users in South Gondar Zone public hospitals was 42.5% (95% confidence interval: 38.6, 46.8). Independent predictors of fertility desire included being a merchant (adjusted odds ratio = 0.06; 95% confidence interval: 0.01, 0.08), being a farmer (adjusted odds ratio = 0.21; 95% confidence interval: 0.09, 0.47), having no children (adjusted odds ratio = 20.04; 95% confidence interval: 4.7, 24.2), disclosing HIV status (adjusted odds ratio = 0.05; 95% confidence interval: 0.01, 0.30), and being diagnosed with HIV (adjusted odds ratio = 15.5; 95% confidence interval: 12.79, 20.54). Conclusions: The prevalence of fertility desire among antiretroviral therapy users is found to be high. It is important to improve the existing Information, Education, and Communication interventions on fertility desire among antiretroviral therapy attendants at the individual and community levels.

Background Adherence to option B+antiretroviral therapy medication is crucial for the effective implementation of the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme. Ethiopia has adopted the WHO’s target of achieving over 95% adherence. However, research conducted in southern Ethiopia found that only 81.4% of women adhered to option B+medication, which reflects a poor level of adherence and remains a concern.Objective The objective of the study was to assess the level of option B+PMTCT drug adherence and associated factors among women who were breast feeding for up to 18 months in government health facilities of North Gojjam Zone, Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia, 2022Design An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted.Setting The study was carried out in hospitals located in the North Gojjam Zone of Northwest Ethiopia.Participants The study was conducted with 223 HIV-positive women who were breast feeding for up to 18 months, from 1 March 2022 to 30 April 2022.Primary and secondary outcomes The primary outcome was to assess the level of option B+PMTCT drug adherence, while the secondary outcome was to identify factors associated with option B+PMTCT drug adherence among HIV-positive women who were breast feeding for up to 18 months. Associations between variables were analysed using both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models, with a p