Background Encouraged by the previous success in malaria control and prevention strategies, the Ethiopian ministry of health launched malaria elimination with a stepwise approach by primarily targeting the low-transmission Districts and their adjacent areas/zones in order to shrink the country’s malaria map progressively. Hence, this community survey was conducted to establish baseline malaria information at the preliminary phase of elimination at targeted settings. Methods A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted at 20 malaria-elimination targeted Districts selected from five Regional states and one city administration in Ethiopia. The GPS-enabled smartphones programmed with Open Data Kit were used to enumerate 9326 study households and collect data from 29,993 residents. CareStart™ Malaria PAN (pLDH) Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) were used for blood testing at the field level. Armpit digital thermometers were used to measure axillary temperature. Result Overall malaria prevalence by RDTs was 1.17% (339/28973). The prevalence at District levels ranged from 0.0 to 4.7%. The proportion of symptomatic cases (axillary temperature > 37.5oc) in the survey was 9.2% (2760/29993). Among the 2510 symptomatic individuals tested with RDTs, only 3.35% (84/2510) were malaria positive. The 75.2% (255/339) of all malaria positives were asymptomatic. Of the total asymptomatic malaria cases, 10.2% (26/255) were under-five children and 89.8% (229/255) were above 5 years of age. Conclusion The study shows a decrease in malaria prevalence compared to the reports of previous malaria indicator surveys in the country. The finding can be used as a baseline for measuring the achievement of ongoing malaria elimination efforts. Particularly, the high prevalence of asymptomatic individuals (0.88%) in these transmission settings indicates there may be sustaining hidden transmission. Therefore, active case detection with more sensitive diagnostic techniques is suggested to know more real magnitude of residual malaria in the elimination-targeted areas.

Background: Contraceptive method choice is a fundamental indicator of quality of care in a family planning program. One third of developing countries including Ethiopia have a much skewed method mix, which is risky for discontinuation, contraceptive dissatisfaction and unintended pregnancy. In Ethiopia the prevalence of contraceptive use is not only low but also highly skewed having a single contraceptive (injectable). Therefore the aim the study was to assess factors that influence modern contraceptive method preference among women of reproductive age in central zone of Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. Methods: A facility based descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 602 rural and urban reproductive age women. The data was entered using EPI info 3.5.4 version and exported to SPSS 16.0 version for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to see any association between different variables. Results: Nearly three fourth (72.3%) of women prefer Injectable contraceptive. Only twenty percent of the total participants prefer Long Acting and Permanent Method (LAPM). Having more than two living children, discussion with husband, and attitude of women were significantly associated with their contraceptive preference. Conclusions: The contraceptive method mix is highly skewed to single Short Acting Contraceptive (SAC) and preference to LAPM is low. For successful family planning program strong information, education and communication focusing on long term contraceptive methods should be done.

Background: Encouraged by the success in malaria control and prevention strategies, several malaria endemic countries have adopted elimination strategies worldwide. Accordingly, Ethiopian ministry of health launched malaria elimination with a stepwise approach by primarily targeting the low-transmission districts and their adjacent areas/zones in order to shrink the country’s malaria map progressively. Hence, this community survey was conducted to establish baseline malaria information at the preliminary phase of elimination for measuring future intervention success in elimination goal. Methods: Community based cross-sectional survey was conducted at twenty malaria elimination targeted districts selected from five regional states and one city administration in Ethiopia. The GPS enabled smart phones programmed with Open Data Kit were used to enumerate 9326 study households and collect data from 29,993 residents. Care Start™ Malaria HRP-2/PLDH Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) were used for blood testing at field level. Armpit digital thermometers were used to measure axillary temperature.Result: Overall malaria prevalence by RDTs was 1.17% (339/28973). The prevalence at district levels ranged from 0.0% to 4.7%. The total prevalence of febrile cases (axillary temperature >37.5oc) in the survey was 9.2% (2760/29993). Among the 2,510 febrile individuals tested with RDTs, only 3.35% (84/2510) were malaria positive. Among all study participants, 0.88% (255/28973) malaria positives were afebrile and 0.29% (84/28973) were febrile individuals. The 75.2% (255/339) of all malaria positives were afebrile. Of the total afebrile malaria cases, 10.2% (26/255) were under-five children and 89.8% (229/255) were above 5 years of age. Conclusion: The 1.17% malaria prevalence that ranges 0 to 4% in some districts by rapid diagnostic tests should be given due consideration by the elimination program. Especially the higher prevalence of afebrile individuals (0.88%) in these transmission settings indicates there may be sustaining hidden transmission. Therefore, active case detection with more sensitive diagnostic techniques than this conventional method is suggested to know more real magnitude of residual malaria in the elimination targeted low transmission areas and break the chain of transmission.

Background: Encouraged by the success in malaria control and prevention strategies, several malaria endemic countries have adopted elimination strategies worldwide. Accordingly, Ethiopian ministry of health launched malaria elimination with a stepwise approach by primarily targeting the low-transmission districts and their adjacent areas/zones in order to shrink the country’s malaria map progressively. Hence, this community survey was conducted to establish baseline malaria information at the preliminary phase of elimination for measuring future intervention success in elimination goal. Methods: Community based cross-sectional survey was conducted at twenty malaria elimination targeted districts selected from five regional states and one city administration in Ethiopia. The GPS enabled smart phones programmed with Open Data Kit were used to enumerate 9326 study households and collect data from 29,993 residents. Care Start™ Malaria HRP-2/PLDH Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) were used for blood testing at field level. Armpit digital thermometers were used to measure axillary temperature.Result: Overall malaria prevalence by RDTs was 1.17% (339/28973). The prevalence at district levels ranged from 0.0% to 4.7%. The total prevalence of febrile cases (axillary temperature >37.5oc) in the survey was 9.2% (2760/29993). Among the 2,510 febrile individuals tested with RDTs, only 3.35% (84/2510) were malaria positive. Among all study participants, 0.88% (255/28973) malaria positives were afebrile and 0.29% (84/28973) were febrile individuals. The 75.2% (255/339) of all malaria positives were afebrile. Of the total afebrile malaria cases, 10.2% (26/255) were under-five children and 89.8% (229/255) were above 5 years of age. Conclusion: The 1.17% malaria prevalence that ranges 0 to 4% in some districts by rapid diagnostic tests should be given due consideration by the elimination program. Especially the higher prevalence of afebrile individuals (0.88%) in these transmission settings indicates there may be sustaining hidden transmission. Therefore, active case detection with more sensitive diagnostic techniques than this conventional method is suggested to know more real magnitude of residual malaria in the elimination targeted low transmission areas and break the chain of transmission.

Introduction: Unintended pregnancy is an important Public health concern worldwide that affect women, families and society at large. An unintended pregnancy has been responsible for unplanned and mostly unwanted family unions that ultimately cause disrupted lifestyles, a source of conflict between individuals and families as well as discrimination against girl hence the objective of this study was aimed to assess the prevalence of unintended pregnancy and its cause among ANC followers. Methodology: The study was conducted in kersa woreda, Eastern hararghae, Ethiopia from February to March, 2015. Facility based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among the sample of pregnant women visiting the randomly selected health facility. The source population was all pregnant women residing in kersa woreda and the study population was all pregnant women found in study area who visited health institution for ANC follow up. Our sample was 328 women, and respondents were selected using systematic random sampling. The data was cleaned, entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Result: The magnitude of unintended pregnancy was 31.3% of those, 82(25.6%) was mistimed and 18 (5.6%) was unwanted. Decision power, no radio, and not able to discuss with partner showed significant association. God's order, husband contraceptive disapproval, and lack of information on contraceptives were mentioned as main cause for current unintended pregnancy. Conclusion: unintended pregnancy was prevalent in 31.3%. Absence of radio, lack of information and lack of discussion with partner was significant predictors. Health information dissemination is needed to community residents, and local governors should ensure that accessible, affordable and acceptable contraceptive is in place.