Objectives Physical activity in the general population is considered too low, and this is true for pregnant women. Moderate physical activity during pregnancy have many benefits for the mother and the developing baby. This study was aimed to assess the level of physical activity during pregnancy and associated factors in public zonal hospitals of Tigray, Ethiopia. A hospital based cross-sectional study was used and 458 study participants was selected using multistage sampling technique. The data were collected using standardized pregnancy physical activity questionnaire. Result Out of 442 women who participated in this study, only 21.9% were physically inactive. Parity [AOR = 7.68; 95% CI (3.193, 18.459)], maternal occupation [AOR = .015; 95% CI (.003, .083)], history of miscarriage [AOR = 8.045; 95% CI (3.325, 19.465)], maternal age AOR = 4.67; 95% CI (1.431, 15.254)], were the variables that showed statistical association with level of physical activity during pregnancy. Level of physical activity during pregnancy was generally high. Thus, it would be optimal if health professionals can take a more active role in promoting physical activity during pregnancy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4496-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundPre-lacteal feeding has continued as a deep-rooted nutritional malpractice in developing countries. Pre-lacteal feeding is a barrier to the implementation of optimal breastfeeding practices and increases the risk of neonatal early-life diseases and mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess pre-lacteal feeding practice and associated factors among mothers having children less than 2 years of age in Aksum town, central Tigray, Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to interview 477 mother-child pairs by systematic random sampling technique. Data were collected through interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaires. Data were coded, entered, cleaned and edited using EPIDATA version 3.1 and export to SPSS Version 22.0 for analysis. To identify the significant variables binary logistic regression were employed. Variables with p-value < 0.05 at 95% CI in multivariate logistic regression were considered statistically significant.ResultThe prevalence of pre-lacteal feeding in Aksum town was 10.1% (95% CI: 7.3%, 13%). Mothers with no previous birth (AOR: 2.93(95% CI:1.21,7.09)), birth spacing less than 24 (AOR: 2.88(95% CI: 1.15,7.25)), colostrum discarding (AOR: 6.72 (95% CI: 2.49,18.12)), less than four anti natal care follow up (AOR: 10.55 (95% CI: 4.78,23.40)), those who underwent cesarean section (AOR: 4.38 (95% CI:1.72,11.12)) and maternal believe on purported advantage of pre-lacteal feeding (AOR: 3.36 (95%CI: 1.62,6.96)) were more likely to practice pre-lacteal feeding to their infants.ConclusionsPre-lacteal feeding is still practiced in the study area. Childbirth spacing, colostrum discarding, antenatal Care follow up, maternal belief in pre-lacteal feeding was contributing factors for practicing of pre-lacteal feeding. Coordination and sustaining the existing strategies and approaches are recommended to give emphasis on the nutritional value of colostrum and anti-natal care follow up.

BackgroundAcute Respiratory infection accounts for 94,037000 disability adjusted life years and 1.9 million deaths worldwide. Acute respiratory infections is the most common causes of under-five illness and mortality. The under five children gets three to six episodes of acute respiratory infections annually regardless of where they live. Disease burden due to acute respiratory infection is 10–50 times higher in developing countries when compared to developed countries. The aim of this study was to assess risk factors of acute respiratory infection among under-five children attending Public hospitals in Southern Tigray, Ethiopia 2016/2017.MethodsInstitution based case control study was conducted from Nov 2016 to June 2017. Interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 288 (96 cases and 192 controls) children under 5 years of age. Systematic random sampling was used to recruit study subjects and SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data. Bivariate and multivariate analysis were employed to examine statistical association between the outcome variable and selected independent variables at 95% confidence level. Level of statistical Significance was declared at p < 0.05. Tables, figures and texts were used to present data.ResultOne hundred sixty (55.6%) and 128 (44.4%) of the participants were males and females respectively. Malnutrition (AOR = 2.89; 95%CI: 1.584–8.951; p = 0.039), cow dung use (AOR =2.21; 95%CI: 1.121–9.373; p = 0.014), presence of smoker in the family (AOR = 0.638; 95% CI: 0.046–0.980; p = 0.042) and maternal literacy (AOR = 3.098; 95%CI: 1.387–18.729; p = 0.021) were found to be significant predictors of acute respiratory infection among under five children.ConclusionAccording to this study maternal literacy, smoking, cow dung use and nutritional status were strongly associated with increased risk of childhood acute respiratory infection. Health care providers should work jointly with the general public, so that scientific knowledge and guidelines for adopting particular preventive measures for acute respiratory infection are disseminated.

Background: Despite many efforts undertaken to control the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic, it remains to be the major global public health challenge. With expanding access to pediatric antiretroviral therapy, children are more likely to experience treatment failure. All previous studies conducted in Ethiopia estimated treatment failure using only clinical and CD4 criteria. Thus, the ART failure rate is expected to be underestimated in our country. Objectives of the Study: To assess the incidence and predictors of treatment failure among children receiving first-line ART in general hospitals of Mekelle and Southern Zones of Tigray region, Ethiopia, 2019. Methods: Retrospective follow up study was employed. The sample size was estimated based on a Log rank test using Stata V-13 and all 404 charts were taken for review. Data were collected by extraction tool; entered using Epi-data manager; cleaned and analyzed by Stata V-14. Data were described using the Kaplan-Meier curve, Log rank test, life table, and crude hazard ratios and analyzed using adjusted hazard ratios and p-value by Cox proportional hazard regression. Any variable at P <0.05 in the bi-variable analysis was taken to multi-variate analysis and significance was declared at P≤ 0.05. Data were presented using tables, charts, and texts. Results: The incidence rate of ART failure was 8.68 (95% CI 7.1 to 10.6) per 1000 person-month observations with a total of 11,061.5 person-month observations. Children who had tuberculosis at baseline [AHR=2.27; 95% CI 1.12-4.57], advanced recent WHO stage [AHR=5.21; 95% CI 2.75-9.88] and sub-optimal ART adherence [AHR=2.84, 95% CI 1.71-4.72] were at higher hazard for first-line treatment failure. Besides this having a long duration of ART follow up [AHR=0.85; 95% CI 0.82-0.87] was found to be protective against treatment failure. Conclusion and Recommendation: The incidence of first-line ART failure was grown as a major public health concern. Treatment failure was predicted by the duration of follow up, advanced recent WHO stage, sub-optimal adherence, as well as the presence of tuberculosis at baseline. Hence, it is better to give priority for strengthening the focused evaluation of the WHO clinical stage and tuberculosis co-infection at baseline with continuous adherence monitoring.

BackgroundPeripheral Intravenous cannula (IV) is the most common vascular access device used to administer medications with the exception of medication or fluid with high or low PH or hyperosmolarity which may cause severe damage to small veins. The insertion of a peripheral intravenous cannula in newborn infants can be difficult. Appropriate veins with sufficient capacity to insert a cannula become less available throughout the hospital stay. Once a peripheral intravenous cannula is inserted, it is desirable that its patency can be maintained as long as possible. This study was aimed to assess the lifespan and associated factors of peripheral intravenous cannula among infants admitted in public hospitals of Mekelle city, Tigray, Ethiopia, 2016.MethodsThe method used was a prospective cohort study. 178 study subjects were recruited using systematic random sampling technique. The data was collected by structured questionairre and observational checklist.ResultsMore than half of infants (94) had a short cannula lifespan (below 30 h). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) [AOR = 6.93; 95% CI (1.56,30.71)], clinical experience (3-5 years) [AOR = 0.168; 95% CI (0.060-0.469)], insertion site (arm) [AOR = 0.126;95% CI (0.046-0.349)], reason for removal (dislodgement and complication) [AOR = 8.15; 95% CI (2.49,26.63) [AOR = 10.48;95% CI (3.08,35.65)], medication [AOR = 0.17;95% CI (0.37,0.784)], corticosteroids [0.164; 95% CI (0.034,0.793)] and blood transfusion [AOR = 0.12; 95% CI (0.028-0.509)] were the statistically significant variables associated with the lifespan of a peripheral intravenous cannula.ConclusionsUntimely removal of peripheral intravenous cannulas was higher in infants and demographic. Cannulation and health care factors had significant effects on the lifespan of a peripheral intravenous cannula.