Objective To assess the self-care practices and associated factors among diabetic patients in West Ethiopia. Results A total of 252 study participants were included in the study, of this 54.8% were male. Of the participants more than half 150 (59.5%) had poor glycemic control and 153 (60.7%) of the participants had good self-care. Majority of the study participants 209 (82.9%) had adequate foot care and more than half 175 (69.4%) and 160 (63.5%) had adequate dietary plan and exercise management respectively. However of the total diabetic patients only 38 (15.1%) had adequate blood glucose testing practices. On multivariable logistic analysis poor self-care practices were more likely to occur among male patients (AOR = 5.551, 95% CI = 2.055–14.997, p = 0.001), patients living in rural area (AOR = 5.517, 95% CI = 2.184–13.938, p < 0.001), patients with duration of diabetes < 6 years (AOR = 41.023, 95% CI = 7.373–228.257, p < 0.001), patients with no access for self-monitoring blood glucose (AOR = 9.448, 95% CI = 2.198–40.617, p = 0.003), patients with poor knowledge about diabetes (AOR = 67.917, 95% CI = 8.212–561.686, p < 0.001) and patients with comorbidities (AOR = 18.621, 95% CI = 4.415–78.540, p < 0.001).

Objective Hypertension is a major risk factor and precursor of myocardial infarction, chronic kidney disease, heart failure and premature death. These vascular events increased costs of hypertension management. Self-care Practices were recommended to control blood pressure among hypertensive patients. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess predictors of self-care practices among hypertensive patients at Jimma University Specialized Hospital. Results A 341-hypertensive patients participated in the study. The mean age of the participants was 54.35 ± 12.48 years with range of 26 to 89 years. One hundred seventy-seven (51.9%) respondents were males and male to female ratio is 1.08. About 61.9% of respondents were adherent to medication usage and 30.5%, 44.9%, 88.3%, 93.5% and 56.9% of respondents were adherent to low salt diet, physical activity, non-alcohol drinking, nonsmoking and weight management respectively. Normal weight (AOR = 1.822, 95% CI 1.073–3.093) was independent predictor of medication usage whereas good self-efficacy (AOR = 2.584, 95% CI 1.477–4.521) and being female (AOR = 0.517, 95% CI 0.301–0.887) were independent predictor of low salt diet and physical activity respectively. Also being female (AOR = 3.626, 95% CI 1.211–10.851) was independent predictors of non-smoking.

Willingness to work in disasters is context-specific and corresponds to the nature, magnitude, and threats posed by a particular public health emergency. None us is certain that our health professionals will continue to provide service should the COVID-19 pandemic crisis climb to its worst level. It was with this uncertainty in mind that this study was done to assess predictors of the unwillingness of health-care workers (HCWs) to continue providing their professional services during the climax of the COVID-19 crisis. Methods: This was a facility-based descriptive cross-sectional study undertaken among 633 HCWsin western Ethiopia. Results: Overall, 205 (32.4%) providers said that they would be unwilling to continue work if COVID-19 peaked. Of these, 176 (27.9%) respondents reported that they would stop going in to work before they were at greatest risk. Statistical analysis performed to predict HCWs unwillingness' to continue work at peak COVID-19 showed male sex (AOR 11.4, 95% CI 8.32-12.6), younger age (AOR 25.3, 95% CI 4.61-40.67), lack of experience in handling similar pandemics (AOR 5.15, 95% CI 1.1-255), and low perceived level of hospital preparedness (AOR 2.05, 95% CI 0.80-5.21) were predictors of unwillingness. In accordance with the extended parallel-process model, higher threat perception (P≤0.001) and low efficacy perception (P≤0.040) were associated with unwillingness of the HCWs to continue working. Conclusion: The proportion of HCWs unwilling to continue their job during COVID-19 is sufficient to affect efforts tof fight the pandemic. As the question of whether our HCWs must risk themselves to treat COVID-19 patients does not have a uniform answer, working on predictors of potential unwillingness is of paramount importance.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health problem. Hence, the study aimed to assess the impact of human immune virus (HIV) status and predictors of successful treatment outcomes of TB patients enrolled at Nekemte specialized hospital. An institution-based retrospective cohort study was conducted and the data analyzed using SPSS version 24.0. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to identify the association between treatment outcome and potential predictor variables. The association was calculated using the Adjusted Odds ratio (AOR) and the statistical significance was considered at p < 0.05. Out of the total 506 study participants, 50.2% of them were males. The overall treatment success rate was 81.4% and 58.06% among HIV co-infected TB patients. Female sex (AOR = 2.01, 95%CI: 1.04–16.11), age 25–34 years (AOR = 3.982, 95%CI: 1.445–10.971), age 35–49 years (AOR = 5.392, 95%CI: 1.674–17.368), high school educational level (AOR = 5.330, 95% CI: 1.753–16.209), urban residence (AOR = 3.093, 95%CI: 1.003–9.541) and HIV negative (AOR = 10.3, 95%CI, 3.216–32.968) were positively associated with favorable TB treatment outcome. Whereas, being single (AOR = 0.293, 95%CI: 0.1–0.854), smear-negative pulmonary TB (AOR = 0.360, 95%CI: 0.156–0.834), extra-pulmonary TB (AOR = 0.839, 95%CI: 0.560–0.955) and retreatment case (AOR: 0.54, 95%CI: 0.004–0.098) were negatively associated with successful treatment outcome. The treatment success rate of TB patients was lower than World Health Organization target set of 85%. The increased unsuccessful outcome among TB/HIV patients requires urgent public health interventions to improve the evaluation policy and control framework.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health concern in the developing world. World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) list of 30 high TB burden countries accounted for 87% of the world’s cases. The annual infection rate in developing countries reached 2% or more; where as in developed countries this figure is 0.5%. Objective: The objective of this study is to assess treatment outcomes of tuberculosis retreatment case and its determinants at Nekemte Referral Hospital (NRH), West Ethiopia. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. All registered adult TB patients under retreatment regimen who were treated at NRH TB clinics from January 2014 to December 2017 were included in this study. A multiple logistic regression was used to assess the significance and strength of association. A P-value <0.05 was used as statistically significant. Results: The prevalence of retreatment case was 12.12%. Of 219 study participants 159(72.6%) were patients with relapse, 43(19.6%) were with retreatment after failure and 17(7.8%) were patients who return after loss to follow-up. On multivariable logistic analysis poor treatment outcome was more likely to occur among patients with positive Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) result at 5th month (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR =4.3, 95%, (1.8-10.0) p=0.001) and patients taking category 1 (2ERHZ/4RH) drugs (AOR=2.1, 95% CI= (1.1-4.5) p=0.048). Conclusion: This study showed that treatment outcomes of TB retreatment case were below standard set by the WHO. Factors that were significantly associated with poor treatment outcome were positive AFB resulting at 5th month and patients on category 1(2ERHZ/4RH).