Background Although oesophageal cancer is a public health problem in Ethiopia, there are limited data on the magnitude and distribution of the disease in the country. The aim of this study is to assess the magnitude, socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of oesophageal cancer patients in selected referral hospitals of Ethiopia.Methods A retrospective document review was employed in ten referral hospitals in different regions of Ethiopia. Data were extracted from clinical care records of all clinically and pathologically confirmed oesophageal cancer patients who were diagnosed and treated in those hospitals from 2012 - 2017. A structured data extraction tool was used to collect important variables. Descriptive statistics such as median, interquartile range (IQR) and percentages were computed to describe the regional and national distribution of the disease.Results Over the past six years, a total of 777 oesophageal cancer cases were identified and the median age of these patients was 55 years with IQR of 19. More than half 428 (55.1%) of the cases were males and majority of them were reported from Oromia and Somali regional states with 388 (49.9%) and 202 (25.9%) respectively. The highest number of oesophageal cancer cases were recorded in 2016 with a total number of 185 (23.8%) while the lowest 98 (12.6%) was in 2012. Eighty percent of oesophageal cancer cases were diagnosed at late stage of the disease. More than one-fourth 210 (27.0%) of patients were operated with the majority 156 (74.3%) to insert a feeding tube followed by trans-hiatal oesophagostomy 23 (10.9%). Of the 118 results analysed, squamous cell carcinoma and adeno carcinoma were the predominant histologic type with 67(56.7%), and 43(36.4%) respectively. One fourth 194 (25.0%) of the patients were alive and more than two third 557 (71.7%) patients’ current status were unknown at the time of the review.Conclusions In referral hospitals of Ethiopia, many oesophageal cancer patients came at late stage of the disease and needed palliative care measures. The number of patients seen in Oromia and Somali region hospitals by far exceeds hospitals of the other regions thus postulating possibly unique risk factors in those geographic areas.

Background Globally, the incidence of prostate cancer is increasing, particularly in low-and middleincome countries. It is the most common cancer among men worldwide, with higher mortality in low and middle-income countries. In Ethiopia, it is the second most common cause of cancer morbidity and mortality among men. Despite a few studies done regarding the disease burden, the evidence is scarce about the survival and prognostic determinants of prostate cancer patients in Ethiopia. Thus, this study assessed the survival and prognostic determinants of patients with prostate cancer. Methods We retrospectively followed patients who were newly diagnosed from 2012 to 2016 at the Oncology Department of Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. We extracted the data from patient charts that were available in the cancer registry using a checklist with the help of oncology nurses. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses with the log-rank test were used to estimate and compare the probability of survival among covariate categories. After checking for assumptions, a multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to identify prognostic determinants of survival. Results The median survival time was 28 months with an overall 2-, 3-and 5-year survival of 57%, 38.9% and 22%, respectively. The overall survival differs according to the clinical stage (P-value<0.01), presence or absence of distant metastasis (P<0.01) and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) (P<0.05). Cancer stage at diagnosis (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) = 0.309,

The aim of this study was to assess the magnitude, socio-demographic, and clinical characteristics of oesophageal cancer patients in selected referral hospitals of Ethiopia. A retrospective document review was employed in ten referral hospitals in different regions of Ethiopia. A structured data extraction tool was used to extract data from clinical care records of all clinically and pathologically confirmed oesophageal cancer patients who were diagnosed and treated in those hospitals from 2012 to 2017. During the study period, a total of 777 oesophageal cancer cases were identified, and the median age of these patients was 55 years, with an interquartile range of 19. More than half (55.1%, n = 428) of the cases were males, and the majority of them were reported from Oromia (49.9%, n = 388) and Somali (25.9%, n = 202) regional states. The highest numbers of oesophageal cancer cases were recorded in 2016 (23.8%, n = 185), while the lowest were in 2012 (12.6%, n = 98). Eighty per cent of oesophageal cancer cases were diagnosed in later stages of the disease. More than one-fourth (27.0%, n = 210) of patients had surgical procedures where the majority (74.3%, n = 156) required insertion of a feeding tube followed by transhiatal oesophagectomy (10.9%, n = 23). Of the 118 patients for which there was histology data, squamous cell carcinoma (56.7%, n = 67) and adenocarcinoma (36.4%, n = 43) were the predominant histologic type. One-fourth (25.0%, n = 194) of the patients were alive, and more than two-thirds (71.7%, n = 557) of the patients’ current status was unknown at the time of the review. In these referral hospitals of Ethiopia, many oesophageal cancer patients presented during later stages of the disease and needed palliative care measures. The number of patients seen in Oromia and Somali hospitals by far exceeded hospitals of the other regions, thus postulating possibly unique risk factors in those geographic areas.

BackgroundOromia is the largest national regional state in the Ethiopian federation. It covers over a third of the country's landmass. In terms of sheer geography, Oromia is about the size of the sovereign European state of Germany. Demographically, Oromia closely matches with Poland among other European countries. Since early 2019, there are actively ongoing armed conflicts in Oromia damaging the public health infrastructure and hampering the provision of healthcare services. ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to assess and document the impacts of armed conflicts in Oromia on the public health infrastructure. MethodThe study is a quantitative review of administrative records and reports employing a qualitative analytical prism. ResultsOromia has 22 administrative zones of which 11 (50%) host 142 sites sheltering about 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A total of 1072 public healthcare facilities sustained attacks in areas of armed conflicts across Oromia. Among the 159 motor vehicles attacked (ambulances, district health office cars and motorbikes), 44% were ambulances. Only for the first two weeks of January 2023, 25,580 Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) cases were reported by healthcare facilities from the areas affected by armed conflicts in Oromia. In these areas, 11,740 patients with malnutrition were enrolled into the Outpatient Therapeutic Program (OTP), 1050 were put on subcutaneous infusion (SC) and seven died due to SAM only in the first two weeks of January 2023. Severe droughts that happened for five consecutive rainy seasons over the last three years have hit hard 10 administrative zones in Oromia, thereby compounding the impacts of the armed conflicts. ConclusionsArmed conflicts are damaging the public health infrastructure and hampering healthcare provisions in Oromia. Such conflicts are evicting people from their residential places thereby forcing them to live in poorly thatched out temporary shelters with clear implication for serious health crises. When compounded with natural calamities such as climate-change-driven drought, the impacts of such conflicts on public health infrastructure and the resultant constraints on provision of vital public healthcare services would be paramount. The authors recommend for further detailed studies on the sustained impacts that these armed conflicts can possibly bring on the provision of vital public health services in Oromia.

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