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Objectives Anemia remains a major public health problem in Ethiopia, which causes maternal and fetal severe consequences. In Tigrai, there are limited literatures on prevalence of anemia and associated factors among pregnant women. Thus, a hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and associated factors of anemia in Adigrat General Hospital. Data was analyzed and computed using SPSS version 22. p value = 0.05 at 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant. Results Overall prevalence of Anemia among the pregnant women attending Adigrat General Hospital was 7.9%. About 62.5% and 37.5% of the anemic women were with mild (Hgb: 10.0–10.9 g/d1) and moderate (Hgb: 7–9.9 g/dl) type respectively. Factors like, residing in rural areas increases risk of anemia by 6 times (AOR = 6, 95% CI 1.34, 27.6, p = 0.019), participants having current blood loss (AOR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.16, 10.2, p = 0.026), having history of recent abortion (AOR = 7.9, 95% CI 2.23, 28.1, p = 0.001) and gestational age in the third trimester (AOR = 4.9, 95% CI 1.39, 17.6, p = 0.013) were statistically associated with anemia. Generally, prevalence of anemia is found to be low in the study area. However, it should be given due attention. Therefore, strong endeavor is needed to control anemia among pregnant women by assessing different micronutrient deficiencies for further prevention.

Objective: to study tuberculosis treatment outcome of patients under directly observed treatment short course in Azezo health center, North West Ethiopia.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in Azezo health center by analyzing the data of tuberculosis patients registered from September, 2008 up to August, 2011. Data about patients characteristics and treatment outcome was analyzed using SPSS version 15 and results were summarized in percentages and frequencies presented in tables.

Results: The study included 482 tuberculosis patients among whom 50.4% were males and the mean (SD) age was 32.8 (1.6) years. The HIV status of 323 patients was known out of which 38.1% were HIV positive. The trend of tuberculosis over the years studied was steadily increasing. Out of the study subjects 67.8% and 32.2% were pulmonary tuberculosis and extrapulmonary tuberculosis cases, respectively. Successful treatment outcome for all types of tuberculosis cases was 80.5%, being higher for females, smear positive pulmonary cases and HIV negative patients. Sex and HIV status of the patients showed statistically significant association with successful treatment outcome.

Conclusion: To improve treatment success rate and minimize the death rate default tracing and home visit made by health extension workers must be strongly implemented as observed in other regions. Enhanced supervision and improved counseling activities also need to be implemented so that the default rate can be minimized for better treatment success rate.

Background Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remains a public health priority in Latin America. While the burden of HIV is historically concentrated in urban areas and high-risk groups, subnational estimates that cover multiple countries and years are missing. This paucity is partially due to incomplete vital registration (VR) systems and statistical challenges related to estimating mortality rates in areas with low numbers of HIV deaths. In this analysis, we address this gap and provide novel estimates of the HIV mortality rate and the number of HIV deaths by age group, sex, and municipality in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Methods We performed an ecological study using VR data ranging from 2000 to 2017, dependent on individual country data availability. We modeled HIV mortality using a Bayesian spatially explicit mixed-effects regression model that incorporates prior information on VR completeness. We calibrated our results to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Results All countries displayed over a 40-fold difference in HIV mortality between municipalities with the highest and lowest age-standardized HIV mortality rate in the last year of study for men, and over a 20-fold difference for women. Despite decreases in national HIV mortality in all countries—apart from Ecuador—across the period of study, we found broad variation in relative changes in HIV mortality at the municipality level and increasing relative inequality over time in all countries. In all six countries included in this analysis, 50% or more HIV deaths were concentrated in fewer than 10% of municipalities in the latest year of study. In addition, national age patterns reflected shifts in mortality to older age groups—the median age group among decedents ranged from 30 to 45 years of age at the municipality level in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico in 2017. Conclusions Our subnational estimates of HIV mortality revealed significant spatial variation and diverging local trends in HIV mortality over time and by age. This analysis provides a framework for incorporating data and uncertainty from incomplete VR systems and can help guide more geographically precise public health intervention to support HIV-related care and reduce HIV-related deaths.

BackgroundIn Ethiopia malaria is one of the leading causes of outpatient visits and admission. Still, it remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the study area. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the knowledge, practice, and determinant of malaria case households in rural areas of Raya Azebo district, Northern Ethiopia.MethodA community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in the selected villages of Raya Azebo district from January to June 2017. A multi-stage random sampling method was employed to select a total of 422 study households. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The household head was interviewed face to face. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the determinant of malaria cases households.ResultA total of 412 (97.6) of the respondents had ever heard about malaria. About 63% of households recognized the causes of malaria to be a mosquito bite. Around 173 (41%) of the study households had been treated for malaria within a year of data collection. This study also revealed that the presence of mosquito breeding sites near to home, bed bug infestation, outdoor sleep due to bed bugs and household with poor bed net practicing were significantly associated with malaria case households.ConclusionAlthough the overall knowledge on malaria transmission, symptoms, and the preventive measure was relatively good, the rate of household insecticide-treated net coverage and utilization were reported low in the area. Therefore, the distribution of adequate bed net with community-based education is a key intervention to promote household insecticide-treated net utilization. In addition, an effective bed bug management strategy is necessary to overcome the outdoor sleeping habit of the community in the area.