BackgroundSub-Saharan Africa is currently enduring the heaviest global burden of diabetes and diabetes care in such resource poor countries is far below standards. This study aims to describe the gaps in the care of Ethiopian diabetic patients at Jimma University Specialized Hospital.Methods329 diabetic patients were selected as participants in the study, aged 15 years or greater, who have been active in follow-up for their diabetes for more than 1 year at the hospital. They were interviewed for their demographic characters and relevant clinical profiles. Their charts were simultaneously reviewed for characters related to diabetes and related morbidities. Descriptive statistics was used for most variables and Chi-square test, where necessary, was used to test the association among various variables. P-value of < 0.05 was used as statistical significance.ResultsBlood glucose determination was done for 98.5% of patients at each of the last three visits, but none ever had glycosylated haemoglobin results. The mean fasting blood sugar (FBS) level was 171.7 ± 63.6 mg/dl and 73.1% of patients had mean FBS levels above 130 mg/dl. Over 44% of patients have already been diagnosed to be hypertensive and 64.1% had mean systolic BP of > 130 and/or diastolic > 80 mmHg over the last three visits. Diabetes eye and neurologic evaluations were ever done for 42.9% and 9.4% of patients respectively. About 66% had urine test for albumin, but only 28.2% had renal function testing over the last 5 years. The rates for lipid test, electrocardiography, echocardiography, or ultrasound of the kidneys during the same time were < 5% for each. Diabetic neuropathy (25.0%) and retinopathy (23.1%) were the most common chronic complications documented among those evaluated for complications.ConclusionsThe overall aspects of diabetes care at the hospital were far below any recommended standards. Hence, urgent action to improve care for patients with diabetes is mandatory. Future studies examining patterns and prevalence of chronic complications using appropriate parameters is strongly recommended to see the true burden of diabetes.

BackgroundCervical cancer is the 2nd most frequent and top killer cancer among women in Ethiopia. Prevalence and factors associated with visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) positive result is not studied yet at the study area.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at Jimma model clinic of Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia, from September 11, 2013 to October 11, 2013. Pertinent data of 334 screened clients were transferred to Epidata version3.1 using checklist, double data entry verification done and exported to SPSS version16.0. After cleaning the data, descriptive analysis was done and logistic regression model employed to identify predictors of VIA positive result. Statistical significance was declared at P < 0.05.ResultsOut of 334 screened clients, 43 (12.9 %) had VIA positive result. Initiation of sexual intercourse earlier than 16 years was found to be an independent predictor increasing the risk of VIA positive by 2.2 times as compared to clients who started at the age of 16 or more years (AOR [95 % CI] = 2.2 [1.1, 4.3]).ConclusionsEarly initiation of sexual intercourse was an independent predictor of VIA positive result in this study. Thus, any cervical cancer prevention and control effort at the study area should address the problem of early initiation of sexual intercourse.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-015-1594-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundGlobally, childhood diarrhea is amongst the most prevalent health problems and accounts for 9% of all deaths in children under-five. In Ethiopia, childhood diarrhea is a major public health problem in which the prevalence ranges from 13.5 to 30.5% and experienced by multiple factors. Although health extension program has been implementing for couples of years; diarrheal disease remains the second cause of morbidity and continues an important public health problem in the study district. Thus, this study assessed determinants of diarrheal disease among under-five children in the Medebay Zana district, northwest Tigray, Ethiopia, 2015.MethodA community based case-control study was used. A multistage sampling procedure was employed to enroll the study participants. Data were collected using face to face administered questionnaire. The collected data were entered into Epi Info version 3.5.4 and exported to SPSS Version 21 for analysis. Frequencies with percentages were computed using univariate analysis. Finally, logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with childhood diarrhea where P-values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.ResultsSocio-demographic factors such as low maternal educational level [AOR = 2.88, 95% CI (1.70, 4.88)], being index child of older age, households with ≥3 number of children under-five [AOR = 4.05, 95% CI (1.91, 8.60)] and maternal history of diarrhea [AOR = 2.10, 95% CI (1.09, 4.05)] were statistically associated with childhood diarrhea. This study also revealed that child feeding practice; not exclusively breastfed [AOR = 4.84, 95% CI (2.21, 10.60)] and initiation of complementary feeding above 6 months [AOR = 1.78, 95% CI (1.09, 2.92)] were statistically associated with outcome variable. Environmental and behavioral practices such as unavailability toilet facility [AOR = 2.10, 95% CI (1.34, 3.30)], improper solid waste disposal [AOR = 2.29, 95% CI (1.53, 3.44)] and unprotected drinking water [AOR = 1.83, 95% CI (1.12, 2.98)] were also found significant factors of childhood diarrhea.ConclusionMaternal educational status, age of index child, number of < 5 children, child feeding practices, maternal history of diarrhea, toilet facility, solid waste disposal and household drinking water were found determinants of childhood diarrhea. These findings have policy implications and insight the strengthening for health intervention programs.

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Background Window opening during bus transportation is recommended as a tuberculosis prevention strategy.Yet, drivers are affected by lack knowledge and risk perception of passengers and assistants. Boosting knowledge of and notifying the high risk of tuberculosis transmission for every passenger could be too costly. However, strategies targeting bus drivers as key agents unlike targeting all passengers might be less costly for window opening. Method Data were collected from November 18/2014 to December 21/2014 in inter-region bus stations of Addis Ababa using cross sectional study design. Samples of 306 participants were selected using simple random sampling, and data were collected through face-to-face interview. Data were entered into Epi-data version 3.1 andanalyzed using IBM SPSS version 21. Result From a sample of 306 bus drivers, 303 were interviewed. Nine in ten and nearly half of participants believed in the need for opening all windows and avoiding overcrowding of passengers as TB preventive measures respectively. Few bus drivers (7.3%) believed that bus drivers and their assistants could be at risk of tuberculosis. The majority (85.7%) of bus drivers opened side window the whole day without precondition. Hearing tuberculosis related information from radio was a promoting factor for tuberculosis preventive measures among bus drivers. Conclusion Tuberculosis preventive practices and knowledge of bus drivers seempositive (opportunities), despite their low risk perception (challenge). Using the opportunity, further empowering bus drivers to persuade passengers and assistants to open all the rest of the windows is needed.