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Eneyew Talie Fenta,1 Birtukan Gizachew Ayal,2 Atitegeb Abera Kidie,2 Tadele Fentabil Anagaw,3 Tesfaye Shumet Mekonnen,2 Eyob Ketema Bogale,3 Sileshi Berihun,1 Tilahun Degu Tsega,1 Chernet Mengistie Munie,4 Tizazu Talie Fenta,5 Nigus Kassie Worku,6 Sintayehu Shiferaw Gelaw,7 Misganaw Guadie Tiruneh8 1Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Injibara University, Injibara, Ethiopia; 2Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia; 3Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; 4Resource Mobilization Directorate, Amhara Regional health Bureau, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; 5Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Gamby Medical and Business College, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; 6Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Dire Dawa University, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia; 7Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia; 8Department of Health System and Policy, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science University of Gondar, Gondar, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Eneyew Talie Fenta, Email eneyew89@gmail.comBackground: The practice of taking medication as directed by a healthcare provider is known as medication adherence. Therefore, the application of a socio-ecological model to this study identifies multilevel factors on barriers of medication adherence on chronic non-communicable disease and provides information to develop scientific health communication interventional strategies to improve medication adherence.Objective: This study aimed to explore barriers of medication adherence on non-communicable disease prevention and care among patients in North Wollo Zone public hospitals, northeast Ethiopia.Methods: A phenomenological study design was carried out between February 5 and February 30, 2023. The study participants were chosen using a heterogeneous purposive sampling technique. In-depth interviews and targeted focus groups were used to gather data. The focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were captured on audio, accurately transcribed, and translated into English. Atlas TI-7 was utilized to do the thematic analysis.Results: Four main themes, intrapersonal, interpersonal, community level, and health care related, as well as seven subthemes, financial problems, lack of family support, poor communication with healthcare providers, effects of social ceremonies, remote healthcare facility, and drug scarcity, were identified by this study. In this study participants reported that lack of knowledge about the disease and drugs were the main barrier for medication adherence. The study revealed that financial problems for medication and transportation cost were the main factor for medication adherence for non-communicable disease patients.Conclusion: This study explored that lack of knowledge, financial problem, lack of family support, poor communication with healthcare providers, social ceremony effects, remote healthcare facility, and scarcity of drugs were barriers of medication adherence among non-communicable disease patients. In order to reduce morbidity and mortality from non-communicable diseases, it is advised that all relevant bodies look for ways to reduce medication adherence barriers for patients at every level of influence.Keywords: medication adherence, socio-ecological model, non-communicable disease

Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) has not confirmed the eradication of the COVID-19 pandemic or the development of a cure. Ongoing research is necessary to update public understanding, attitudes, and behaviors. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to COVID-19 among students in Ethiopia., Objective: To estimate the pooled proportions and associated factors of knowledge, positive attitude, and prevention practice toward COVID-19 among students in Ethiopia., Methods: The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and was registered on the PROSPERO database. Data extraction was done using an Excel spreadsheet, and analysis was conducted using STATA. The quality of the articles was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) grading approach. A narrative summary and random-effects model with a 95% confidence interval were used. Heterogeneity and publication bias were also assessed. The results were presented using a forest plot and tables., Result: Out of 2089 studies reviewed, only 16 met the inclusion criteria. The pooled proportions of COVID-19 good knowledge, positive attitude, and good prevention practice among students in Ethiopia were found to be 62.68% [95% CI 50.96-74.40, I2 = 98.93%], 60.22% [95% CI 51.64-68.80, I2 = 97.68%], 48.47% [95% CI, 44.16-52.78, I2 = 91.45%] respectively. Factors that affected knowledge included marital status, family size, sex, study year, and residency. Knowledge and residency were identified as predictors of attitude. Determinants of practice included knowledge, attitude, sex, study program, and residency., Conclusion: The pooled proportion of students in Ethiopia with good knowledge, positive attitudes, and good practices regarding COVID-19 was low. Policymakers, the Ministry of Health, Public Health Institutions, and other stakeholders should intensify their efforts on COVID-19 and develop interventions aimed at females, rural residents, and extension students. The protocol was registered on the PROSPERO database with ID = CRD42023478234., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Dagnaw et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: Prisoners in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are at a high risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection due to overcrowding and poor ventilation. Consequently, TB is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in prison, and many inmates face a number of barriers to TB control and had limited information in the region. Thus, the aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the overall pooled prevalence of pulmonary TB and predictors among prison inmates in SSA., Methods: From 2006 to 2019, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using various databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus. The data were extracted in Microsoft Excel using a standardized data extraction format, and the analysis was carried out with STATA version 14. To detect heterogeneity across studies, the I 2 and the Cochrane Q test statistics were computed. To determine the overall prevalence of TB and predictors among prison populations, a random effect meta-analysis model was used., Results: Of the 3,479 retrieved articles, 37studies comprising 72,844 inmates met the inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of pulmonary TB among prison inmates in SSA was 7.74% (95% CI: 6.46-8.47). In the subgroup analysis, the highest prevalence was found in the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) (19.72%) followed by Zambia (11.68%) and then Ethiopia (9.22%). TB/HIV coinfection (OR 4.99 (95% CI: 2.60-9.58)), Body mass index (BMI < 18.5) (OR 3.62 (95% CI: 2.65-6.49)), incarceration (OR 4.52 (95% CI: 2.31-5.68)), and previous TB exposure (OR 2.43 (95% CI: 1.61-3.56)) had higher odds of pulmonary TB among inmates., Conclusion: The prevalence of pulmonary TB among SSA prison inmates was found to be high as compared to total population. TB/HIV coinfection, BMI, incarceration duration, and TB exposure were all predictors with pulmonary tuberculosis in prison inmates. As a result, emphasizing early screening for prisoners at risk of pulmonary TB is an important point to achieving global TB commitments in resource-limited settings., Competing Interests: The authors declared that they have no any form of conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Habtamu Belew Mera et al.)

Objective: This study aimed to determine the association between nutritional status and academic performance among primary school children in Debre Markos Town, northwest Ethiopia, 2017., Results: The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting were 27.5% (95% CI 23.2-31.9%), 20.4% (95% CI 16.5-24.3%) and 8.7% (95% CI 6.2-11.5%), correspondingly. The low level of educational performance was significantly higher (p < 0.05) among the stunted, underweight and wasted children than that of the normal children. In multivariable logistic regression, age of the child (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 0.177, 95% CI 0.07, 0.4), monthly income less < 1000.00 birr (AOR = 0.05, 95% Cl 0.02, 0.15), stunted children (AOR = 0.21, 95% CI 0.10, 0.43) and under-weight (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.26, 0.84) were associated with academic performance. This study revealed that indicators of undernutrition were prevalent among school-age children. Thus, collaboration between the health and education sectors is required to alleviate the problem.

Background: Ensuring nutritional status of women is important because the malignant effects of malnutrition are procreated to the next generation through women and their off-springs. Malnutrition causes 3.5 million death of women and children each year and almost 11% of the disease burden in the world. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess nutritional status and factors associated with underweight among lactating women in Womberma woreda, Northwest Ethiopia, 2016., Methods: A Community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Womberma woreda, Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 668 lactating women who have 6-24 months of child were included in the study. Study participants were selected using a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using interview-administered questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI) was used to measure the nutritional status of lactating women. Women's body weight and height were measured using the standard anthropometric measurement procedures. Data were entered using EpiData software and analysis was done using SPSS software. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariable logistics regression analysis were used to present the findings. Variables with a p -value less than 0.05 on multiple variable logistic regression were taken as significant variables., Results: Lactating women with normal nutritional status (BMI = 18.5-24.99 kg/m 2 ) were 498 (74.5%), and underweight women (BMI < 88.5 kg/m 2 ) were 170(25.4%). Respondents with less than five family size (AOR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.26, 0.81, p -value = 0.007), women whose age of first pregnancy was less than 18 years old (AOR: 3.72, 95% CI: 2.33, 6.49 at p -value = 0.0001), home delivery for the recent child birth (AOR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.50, 3.72 at p -value = 0.0001), and the absence of nutritional education programs in the community (AOR: 5.5, 95% CI: 1.8, 16.79 at p -value = 0.003) were the significant variables with underweight of lactating women., Conclusions: Nutritional status of lactating women in the study area was poor. One fourth of lactating women was underweight. Factors associated with underweight of lactating women include; respondents with less than five family size, women whose age of first pregnancy was less than 18 years old, home delivery for the recent childbirth, and the absence of nutritional education programs in the community. Early childbearing and short birth intervals between births should be discouraged. Programs which encourage institutional delivery and community-based nutritional education are important to improve women nutritional status., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s). 2017.)