Globally, there were about 3.4 million pediatric children (<15 years of age) who were living with HIV/AIDS. Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2013, there were about 160,000 pediatric children living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. Even though undernutrition makes it difficult to combat HIV/AIDS, there is paucity of information on the magnitude of stunting and its predictors among seropositive pediatric children in low-income countries like Ethiopia. Institution based quantitative cross sectional study design was employed on 414 randomly selected pediatric (5-15 years) children living with HIV/AIDS in Harari Region and Dire Dawa City Administration Public Hospitals, Eastern Ethiopia. Pretested interviewer administered questionnaire and patient card review was held to collect data. Data were entered through Epi-data and exported to SPSS for analysis. The WHO Anthros plus software was used to calculate the anthropometric indices. Bivariate and Multivariable analysis along with 95%CI were done to identify predictors of stunting. Level of statistical significance was declared at P-value <0.05. The prevalence of stunting was found to be 30.9% (95%CI: 26.0-36.0%). Rural residence [AOR=4.0, (95%CI: 2.22, 7.17)], family monthly income of ≤500 ETB [AOR=5.79, (95%CI: 2.82, 11.60)], being anemic [AOR=3.17, (95% CI: 2.13, 4.93)] and the presence of diarrhea [AOR=6.21, 95% (CI: 3.39, 9.24)] were predictors of stunting. Thus, collaborative measures should be undertaken (to decrease frequent infections and to improve the economic status) to combat chronic malnutrition during HIV/AIDS treatment.

Globally, insufficient iodine intake is found to be the most common preventable cause of mental retardation that results in diminished immunity, decreased school performance and infant and young child death. Ethiopia is the first of the top iodine deficient countries in the world. About 12 million children (school age) get inadequate iodine. Community based cross sectional study was conducted on 792 school age children in Guraghe Zone, Ethiopia to assess the determinants of iodine deficiency. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the study subjects. Data were collected by using pretested questionnaire. Clinical examinations were taken following standard procedures. The collected data were entered into Epi-data and exported to SPSS for analysis. Descriptive statistics was calculated and presented accordingly. Bivariate and multivariable Logistic regression with odds ratios along with the 95% confidence interval was computed and interpreted accordingly. A P-value <0.05 was declared as statistically significant association. Total goiter rate was 8.7%. Factors that had significant association with goiter were: School age children who utilized non iodized salt (AOR=3.12, 95% CI=1.73-5.63), those who consumed cabbage >2 times per week (AOR=1.94, 95% CI=1.10-3.52), and children who got elder (AOR=1.22, 95% CI=1.10-1.41). The study area had mild iodine deficiency disorder. Non iodized salt utilization; frequent cabbage consumption and increased age of children were found to be predictors of goiter. Thus, Interventions should focus on universal salt iodization, besides familiarizing goiterogens to the community at large.

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Background: The distribution of intestinal parasites among patients with tuberculosis in Ethiopia has not been well understood. Thus, this systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to determine the pooled national prevalence of intestinal parasites and its association with HIV among patients with tuberculosis in Ethiopia. Methods: Original articles were searched in PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and World Health Organization’s HINARI portal and supplemented by the hand searching of cross-references. Data were extracted using a standard data extraction checklist. Random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of intestinal parasites and odds ratio of the association. The I2 statistic was utilized to quantify statistical heterogeneity across studies. Funnel plot asymmetry and Egger’s regression tests were used to check for publication bias. The analysis was done by STATA version 14 for Windows. Results: Of 725 identified studies, 12 articles were eligible for inclusion in the final analysis. The pooled national prevalence of intestinal parasites among patients with tuberculosis in Ethiopia was 36.1% (95% CI: 22.1 – 50.1, I2:98.7%). Subgroup analysis based on study design indicated that the prevalence of intestinal parasite among case-control studies was 41.69% (95% CI: 28.6 – 54.8, I2: 95.1%). The odds of intestinal parasites among patients with tuberculosis- HIV co-infection was not significantly different compared with patients with tuberculosis without HIV/AIDS (OR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.7 - 4.7, p: 0.96). Conclusion: In Ethiopia, at least one out of three patients with tuberculosis have intestinal parasite. These findings suggest the need of more attention on increasing screening tuberculosis patients for intestinal parasites and deworming intervention.