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Introduction Cigarette smoking is an important health hazard and major preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of cigarette smoking among Tabor secondary and preparatory school students in Hawassa City, Ethiopia, 2018. Methods A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 564 students aged 15–22 years using simple random sampling techniques, in the period 5–19 March 2018. Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) was used to assess smoking behaviours. Logistic regression analyses were employed to identify factors associated with cigarette smoking. Results The student prevalence of cigarette smoking was found to be 11% (95% CI: 8.5–13.9) of which 9.4% were current smokers. The proportion of cigarette smoking among male and female students was 8.2% and 2.8%, respectively. An age ≥18 years (AOR = 3.0, 95% CI: 1.29–7.00), students having friends who smoke (AOR= 4.04, 95% CI: 2.04–7.45), khat chewing (AOR=5.57, 95% CI: 2.44–12.76), alcohol consumption (AOR=4.14, 95% CI: 1.84–9.70) and illegal or illicit drug use (AOR=5.84, 95% CI: 1.96–17.36) were found to be significantly associated with cigarette smoking. Conclusions Cost-effective programs that involve the participation of families, teachers and other stakeholders to deliver health education and which restrict accessibility, advertising and use of substances like alcohol, cigarettes, and other illicit drugs, are highly recommended.

Background: The availability of poor-quality drugs on the drug market might favor the ineffectiveness of the drug and/antimicrobial resistance., Aim: To evaluate the quality of similar batches of ethambutol hydrochloride tablets available in different governmental health facilities of Jimma town, southwest Ethiopia., Methods: The World Health Organization checklist was used to inspect the storage area of health facilities and check medicines for the sign of counterfeit. The test was conducted as per the United States Pharmacopeia on six similar batches of ethambutol hydrochloride sampled from different governmental health facilities. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20, and one-way ANOVA was used for comparing the dissolution profile and weight variation of batches., Results: Three health facilities did not comply with the storage area specifications for pharmaceuticals. No batches have shown any sign of counterfeit. All of the tablet batches tested complied with USP specifications for weight variation, percentage purity, and dissolution test. Conclusions and Recommendation . The entire tablet batches complied with the World Health Organization specification for packaging and labelling of pharmaceuticals. All tablet batches complied with the test for weight variation, purity of drug substance, and dissolution. Since some health facilities did not comply with at least one specification for storage of pharmaceuticals, regulatory agencies and stack holders are advised to inspect the health facilities to ensure appropriate storage of pharmaceuticals in health facilities., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Meseret Yirdaw et al.)