Background. A preterm birth is the leading cause of death in both neonatal and children under five years of age every year throughout the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The causes of a preterm birth are complex and multifactorial; many risk factors that contribute it are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of a preterm birth among mothers who gave birth in Silte Zone Public Hospitals, Southern Ethiopia (2019/20). Methods and Materials. A hospital-based unmatched case-control study design was carried out from July 15th to October 30th, 2019, by assigning mothers who gave preterm births as cases and those with term births as controls. A total of 365 respondents (91 cases and 274 controls) were selected by a consecutive simple random sampling until the required sample size was achieved. For each case, three consecutive controls were included. Data were collected using a structured interview questionnaire complement with record reviewing. The data were entered into Epi Info 7 and exported into SPSS 25 for analysis. Descriptive analysis was computed to obtain summary values for cases and controls separately. All candidate variables in bivariate analysis were entered into the multivariable logistic regression model by using the backward likelihood ratio selection methods. Finally, variables with p value ≤ 0.05 were considered as potential determinants of a preterm birth and reported in the form of adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval. Results. Among a total of 365 mothers who gave live birth, 91 (24.9%) were cases compared to 274 (75.1%) which were controls. The final multivariable logistic regression analysis results showed that having history of a previous preterm birth ( AOR = 3.51 ; 95 % CI = 1.40 − 8.81 ), having shorter interpregnancy interval ( AOR = 4.46 ; 95 % CI = 1.95 − 10.21 ), experiencing obstetric complication ( AOR = 3.82 ; 95 % CI = 1.62 − 9.00 ), and having infant born with low birth weight ( AOR = 5.58 ; 95 % CI = 2.39 − 13.03 ) were found to be independent predictors of a preterm birth. Conclusions. According to this finding, mothers having previous history of a preterm birth, experiencing obstetric complication, having shorter interpregnancy interval, and having infant born with low birth weight were reported as the independent predictors of a preterm birth. Improving the quality of antepartum and intrapartum, counseling on birth space, creating awareness on family planning, and early screening of preterm determinants are mandatory.

Background: Dietary diversity is a good proxy indicator for micronutrient adequacy in pregnant women. Despite some improvements in dietary intake among pregnant mothers, achieving the minimum dietary diversity among them is still a great challenge in Ethiopia. There are no enough studies done on minimum dietary diversity among pregnant women and factors identified were more of local based. Therefore this study determined the prevalence of minimum dietary diversity and its associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care in government health facilities of Soro district, Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia.Methods: This is the facility based study conducted in government health facilities of Soro district, Hadiya Zone from Oct. 2020-Jan 2021. Cross sectional study design was undertaken by using systematic sampling on 422 pregnant women attending antenatal care. Both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to assess the association of independent variables with outcome variable.Result: From the total of the 422 study subjects, 416 pregnant women attending antenatal care were participated in the study and making the response rate 98.6 percent. The overall prevalence of pregnant mothers who have met the minimum dietary diversity was only 7.9%. Maternal educational status being grade nine above, eating meal more than three times per day and women being currently not married were factors found to be significantly associated with minimum dietary diversity among pregnant mothers attending antenatal care in government health facilities.Conclusion: The prevalence of the minimum dietary diversity among pregnant women attending ANC in public health facilities of Soro district was very low and far from national and international recommendations to enhance the maternal food diversity. Inter sectoral collaboration is very important to enhance the minimum dietary diversity during pregnancy and should be worked intensively and in an integrated manner.