Introduction: The greatest gap in new-born care is often during the critical first week of life when most neonatal and maternal deaths often occur at home and without any contact with the formal health sector. Some unacceptable practices such as unskilled attendants during delivery, unhygienic delivery practices, taboos and superstitions associated with caring for the new-born greatly affect new-born survival in Ethiopia.

Background: The Ethiopian national strategy for the prevention, control and elimination of malaria is one of the Health Development Programs (HDP IV). Dengue fever is one of the vector borne diseases that causes Acute Febrile Illness and death in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Knowledge, attitude and practice of health-care professionals towards dengue fever prevention and associated factors among health professionals is not yet well known across the country and concern is varied in context and place. Therefore, the aim of this research was to assess knowledge, attitude and practice towards dengue fever prevention and associated factors among public health sector health-care professionals in Dire Dawa administrative city, eastern Ethiopia. Materials and methods: An Institution-based cross sectional study was conducted from September 9 to October 13, 2017. The study was conducted among a sample of 348 health-care professionals which were from the randomly selected nine clusters of public health facilities located in urban and rural areas of Dire Dawa. Data were collected by self-administered structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multinomial logistic regression analyses were made to check the associations among predictor variables and to control for confounding factors. A P -value <0.05 was used to declare statistical significance. Results: Of the 348 sampled health-care professionals, 300 were included in the analysis giving a response rate of 86.2%. Nearly half (148/49.3%) of the participants demonstrated a moderate level of knowledge, 140 (46.7%) a neutral level of attitude and 156 (52%) a low level of practice towards dengue fever prevention. Multinomial logistic regression revealed that type of health profession, type of health facility and dengue fever prevention training status were significantly associated with the knowledge, attitude and practice of health-care professionals. The odds of physicians and public-health officers having a high level of knowledge or a low knowledge level were (AOR [95% CI] =38.793 [7.279, 206.734]) and (AOR[95% CI] =6.15[1.643, 23.026]) times higher than the odds for nurse professionals. The odds for professionals who worked in health centers and had a high knowledge level towards dengue fever prevention were (AOR [95% CI] =0.252 [0.086, 0.737]) times higher than those working in referral hospitals. The odds of health-care professionals who were public-health officers and those who worked in primary hospitals having a favorable attitude towards dengue fever prevention were (AOR [95% CI] =7.011 [1.867, 26.321]) and (AOR [95% CI] =3.683 [1.284, 10.563]) times higher than the odds for nurse professionals and those who worked in a referral hospital setting respectively. The odds of health-care professionals who took dengue fever prevention training were 10.23 times (AOR [95% CI] =10.23 [1.052, 99.478]) higher than the odds for health-care professionals who had not received the training....

Background World Health Organization refers medication waste as expired, unused, spilled, and contaminated pharmaceutical items, medications, vaccines, and sera. Budget constraints in financing the health care system together with huge amount of wastage and disposal costs of unused medications at LMIC create a serious risk to the economy, health care system and environment. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the rate of medication waste and to identify contributing factors in public health facilities in Dire-Dawa city. Methods An institution-based retrospective, cross-sectional study was supplemented by a qualitative study design from May 10 to June 10, 2021, at 2 public hospitals and 14 health centers. Qualitative data were collected by self-administered questionnaires and 2 years record review. In-depth interviews were used to obtain qualitative data. Excel sheets and SPSS version 20 and thematic analysis were used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. Results An average medicine wastage rate was 3.07% between 2010 and 2012 EFY, in Dire-Dawa public health facilities that worth 4,048,594.0 ETB. The most wasted class of medication was anti-infectives, accounting for 2,360,330 ETB (58.3%), while tablets 2,615,391 ETB (64.6%). Medical waste has been linked to several issues, including pushing nearly expired medications to healthcare institutions, lack of clinician involvement in medication selection and quantification, rapid changes in treatment regimens, and the existence of overstocked medication shelves. Conclusion The average rate of medication waste was higher than the allowed level of 2%. The only medications that should be accepted by medical facilities are those that can be used before they expire. All prescribers should receive lists of the drugs that are readily available from the pharmacy department, and clinicians should be involved in the quantification and drug selection processes to increase the effectiveness of the use of medications.

Adhesion is the degree to which a patient complies with treatment recommendations made by a health care professional. The majority of pregnant women worldwide don’t get the recommended amounts of iron and folic acid (30 to 60 mg of iron and 400 g of folic acid/day for 6 months) pregnant women are more likely to develop iron- and folic acid deficiency anemia. For iron and folate supplementation programs to be effective in Ethiopia, adherence is a significant issue. So, this study aimed to evaluate the level and barriers preventing women receiving antenatal care from taking iron and folate supplements. A phenomenological qualitative study design was added to a facility-based cross-sectional study. The sample was established using a double population proportion formula. For the quantitative and qualitative study, 308 pregnant women and the focal points for the health facilities were chosen at random, using systematic random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. For the quantitative study, a face-to-face interviewer-guided, pre-tested structured questionnaire was used; for the qualitative study, a semi-structured questionnaire was used. Data was entered twice, cross-checked by comparing the two separate entries in Epi Data version 7.2.2.6, and exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. COR and AOR with 95% CI are used to evaluate the relationship between variables and control for confounding factors. Statistical significance was declared at a p-value < 0.05. All, 308 (100%) participants were involved. 56.5% of pregnant women attending an ANC clinic (95% CI: 51%–62.2%) adhered to Iron and folate supplementation. Mothers with primary education], Urban residents mothers, Mother who had four or more ANC visits, mothers who had registered for their first ANC at early gestational age, mothers who had good awareness about birth defects were independent predictors of adherence to Iron and folate supplementation. In our study, adherence to iron and folate supplementation was low relative to previous research findings. Promoting early and frequent ANC visits and improving pregnant women’s awareness of anemia and birth defects through education is necessary to increase the adherence status.

Background: Premature rupture of membranes is the spontaneous leakage of amniotic fluid from the amniotic sac that occurs at least one hour before the onset of labor. It is a common complication of pregnancy that leads to neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality. There is little evidence of the prevalence and associated factors among pregnant women admitted to the obstetrics ward in the study area..Objective: To assess the prevalence and associated factors among pregnant women admitted to Dire Dawa hospitals in eastern Ethiopia.Method: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 17 to June 17, 2021. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select 392 pregnant women admitted to an obstetric ward. Data was collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and checklist to obtain data from the medical record. Data was collected with Kobo tool software and exported to SPSS version 24. The crude odds ratio and the AOR with 95% CI were calculated to assess the association among variables and control the confounding factors. The level of significance was declared at a p-value < 0.05. Result: All 392 (100%) pregnant women were included in the study. The prevalence of PROM was found to be 22.4%. Pregnant women who had a history of previous preterm labor (AOR = 2.449, 95% CI: 1.422, 4.217), history of PROM (AOR = 2.663, 95% CI: 1.567, 4.526), history of anemia (AOR = 2.497, 95% CI: 1.371, 4.550), history of UTI (AOR = 2.715, 95% CI: 1.575, 4.679) and history of chewing khat (AOR = 1.936, 95% CI: 1.055, 3.552) were significantly associated with pre-labor rupture of membrane.Conclusion: The prevalence of pre-labor rupture of membranes in the study was high when compared to previous studies. An intervention that focuses on strengthening the integration of messages on health promotion and disease prevention, routine early screening, diagnosis and quick treatments of UTI and anemia, nutritional counseling, iron supplementation, and giving information regarding substance use during pregnancy should be recommended.