Background The recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a disastrous effect on the health-care delivery system, of mainly pregnancy-related healthcare. In order to fill the information gap in the scientific literature and in response to the limited evidence in the country, this study aims to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antenatal care utilization among pregnant women attending public facilities in Northeast Ethiopia. Therefore, the result will be beneficial to design strategies for prioritizing maternal healthcare even with the COVID-19 pandemic period. Methods A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2 to August 30, 2020 among pregnant women attending ANC services at public hospitals in Northeast Ethiopia. Thus, a total of 389 women were included in the study with a simple random sampling technique. The bi-variable and multi-variable logistic regression models were employed to identify factors significantly associated with ANC utilization. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% CI was estimated to show the strength of association. Finally, a P -value of <0.05 in the multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of antenatal care utilization. Results Overall, 114 (29.3%) pregnant women had fully utilized antenatal care services during the pandemic period. Mother age ≥35 years (AOR=11.79, 95% CI=1.18– 117.8), secondary education and above (AOR=4.74, 95% CI=1.04– 21.61), history of stillbirth before recent pregnancy (AOR=0.007, 95% CI=0.001–0.12), interruption and diversion of services due to COVID-19 response (AOR=0.675, 95% CI=0.142–0.742), fear of COVID-19 (AOR=0.13, 95% CI=0.06–0.31), and lack of transport access (AOR=4.15, 95% CI=1.04–16.54) were predictors of full antenatal care service utilization. Conclusion Three of every ten pregnant women who attended the obstetric outpatient clinics have fully utilized the antenatal care services. Encouraging women’s educational status, prioritizing maternal health services during COVID-19, and improving the quality of ANC service should be emphasized more.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a worldwide epidemic declared by the world health organization as a public health emergency of concern and consequently inducing huge mental health and psychological reactions. Aims: This study is aimed to summarize the existing data regarding anxiety, depression, and psychological distress during the covid-19 pandemic among the wider population so that effective intervention strategies will be initiated. Methods: Pieces of literature that assessed anxiety, depression, and psychological distress among the general population during the COVID pandemic period were systematically gathered. Data extraction in Microsoft excel was done by two independent reviewers using predefined criteria. The analysis was done using a stata-11 and random effect model. A sub-group and sensitivity analysis was done. Besides, the funnel plot and eggers publication bias test was tested. Results: Sixteen studies that assessed 78,225 participants were included. Nine studies were included in the meta-analysis for anxiety prevalence. The average prevalence of anxiety was found to be 38.12%. A sub-group analysis showed that anxiety was 33.33% in China and 47.70% in other countries (Italy, Turkey, and India). Anxiety prevalence in studies measured with the DASS-21 scale, GAD-7 scale, and other tools (SAS, HADS, and 5-point Likert scale) was 23.4%, 40.73%, and 44.47% respectively. The prevalence of anxiety in studies that assessed a sample size above 2,000 participants was 40.33%. The average prevalence of depression among included studies was 34.31% and a sub-group analysis showed that depression was higher in China (36.32%) than in other countries (28.3%). Moreover, six studies reported psychological distress and the average prevalence was 37.54%. Conclusion: This study revealed that anxiety, depression, and psychological distress are potential public mental health problems of the global community that suggests the need for early recognition and initiation of interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Background Childhood acute respiratory infection remains the commonest global cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children. In Ethiopia, it remains the highest burden of the health care system. The problem varies in space and time, and exploring its spatial distribution has supreme importance for monitoring and designing effective intervention programs. Methods A two stage stratified cluster sampling technique was utilized along with the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data. About 10,006 under-five children were included in this study. Bernoulli model was used to investigate the presence of purely spatial clusters of under-five acute respiratory infection using SaTScan.ArcGIS version 10.1 was used to visualize the distribution of pneumonia cases across the country. Mixed-effect logistic regression model was used to identify the determinants of acute respiratory infection. Result In this study, acute respiratory infection among under-five children had spatial variations across the country (Moran’s I: 0.34, p < 0.001). Acute respiratory infection among under-five children in Tigray (p < 0.001) and Oromia (p < 0.001) National Regional States clustered spatially. History of diarrhoea (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) = 4.71, 95% CI: (3.89–5.71))), 45–59 months of age (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI: (0.45–0.89)), working mothers (AOR = 1.27, 95% CI: (1.06–1.52)), mothers’ secondary school education (AOR = 0.65; 95% CI: (0.43–0.99)), and stunting (AOR = 1.24, 95% CI: (1.00–1.54)) were predictors of under-five acute respiratory infection. Conclusion and recommendation In Ethiopia, acute respiratory infection had spatial variations across the country. Areas with excess acute respiratory infection need high priority in allocation of resources including: mobilizing resources, skilled human power, and improved access to health facilities.

Background Timely initiating antenatal care (ANC) is crucial in the countries that have high maternal morbidity and mortality. However, in developing countries including Ethiopia, pregnant mother’s time to initiate antenatal care was not well-studied. Therefore, this study aimed to assess time to first ANC and its predictors among pregnant women in Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 7,543 pregnant women in Ethiopia using the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS), 2016 data. A two-stage stratified cluster sampling was employed. The Kaplan-Meier (KM) method was used to estimate time to first antenatal care visit. Cox-gamma shared frailty model was applied to determine predictors. Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) with 95% confidence interval was reported as the effect size. Model adequacy was assessed by using the Cox-Snell residual plot. Statistical significance was considered at p value <0.05. For data management and analysis Stata 14 was used. Results The median time to first ANC was 5 months with IQR (3,-). The independent predictors of time to first ANC visit were primary education [AHR: 1.24 (95%CI, 1.13–1.35)], secondary education [AHR: 1.28(95% CI, 1.11–1.47)], higher education [AHR: 1.43 (1.19–1.72)] as compared to women with no formal education. Having media exposure [AHR: 1.13 (95% CI, 1.03–1.24)], early initiation of ANC increases by 25% [AHR: 1.25 (95% CI, 1.12–1.40)] in poorer, 32% [AHR: 1.32 (95% CI, 1.17–1.49)] in middle, 37% [AHR: 1.37 (95% CI, 1.20–1.56)] in richer and 41% [AHR: 1.41 (95%CI, 1.1.19–1.67)] in richest households as compared to poorest household wealth index. Living in city administration, media exposure and community women literacy were also enabler factors, while, long distance from health facility and nomadic region residency were hindering factors of early ANC visit. Conclusions The current study revealed that women’s time to first antenatal care visit was by far late in Ethiopia as compared to the world health organization recommendation (WHO). The predictors of time to first ANC visit were education status of women, having media exposure, level of household wealth index, community women literacy ad distance to health facility. It is vital that maternal and child health policies and strategies better to be directed at women development and also designing and applying interventions that intended to increase timely initiation ANC among pregnant-women. Researchers also recommended conducting studies using a stronger design like a cohort to establish temporality and reduce biases.

Background Time management practice can facilitate productivity and success, contributing to work effectiveness, maintaining balance and job satisfaction. Thus, this study aimed to assess time management practices and associated factors among employees of primary hospitals in north Gondar. Methods An Institutional based cross-sectional study among primary hospital employees in north Gondar was conducted from March to April 2018. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the data. Simple random sampling technique was utilized to select 422 employees. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model were done to identify factors associated with time management practice. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was ascertained to show the strength and direction of association.