Background A patient's knowledge, attitude and practice toward diabetes self-care is found to be imperative for them to attain the desired treatment targets and contribute meaningfully in the management of their disease. Objective To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards diabetes self-care with the associated factors among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Jimma Medical Center, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine knowledge, attitude, and practice toward diabetes self-care. Three hundred and seventy-one T2DM patients attending Jimma Medical Center from March 30 to June 1, 2019 were included in this study and an interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. SPSS version 20 was used for descriptive and logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals together with p -value <0.05 were used to declare statistical significance. Results Out of 371 patients, 201 (54.2%) were male. Of the total, 235 (63.3%) had good knowledge, 221 (59.6%) had positive attitude, and 201 (54.2%) had good self-care practice toward diabetes. Primary educational level (AOR=1.895) was associated with poor knowledge of diabetes, while urban living (AOR=0.570) was protective for low knowledge of diabetes. Monthly income <1000 Ethiopian birr (ETB); (AOR=2.723) and 1000–3000 ETB; (AOR=1.126), illiterate (AOR=2.3), and duration of diabetes mellitus (DM) <5 years (AOR=2.242) were significantly associated with negative attitude. Having other comorbidities (AOR=0.602) was less likely to have negative attitude towards diabetes. Patients age, 41–50 years (AOR=2.256), and 51–60 years (AOR=2.677), education: being illiterate (AOR=4.372), primary level (AOR=4.514), and earning monthly income <1000 ETB (AOR=4.229) were significantly associated with poor self-care practice. On the contrary, being male (AOR=0.198) was less likely to have a poor self-care practice. Conclusion The knowledge level, attitude status and self-care practice among T2DM patients were found to be optimal.

PurposesThe aim of this study was to determine the effects of nutritional status at the start of highly active anti-retroviral therapy on treatment outcomes among HIV/AIDS patients taking HAART at Jimma University Specialized Hospital.MethodsWe performed a retrospective cohort study involving 340 adults who started highly active anti-retroviral therapy. The patients have been clinically followed for 2 years. Data were extracted from paper based medical charts by trained data collectors from January 30 to February 28, 2014 using data collection format. We entered data into Epi data version 3.1 and then exported to SPSS for windows version 21. Predictors of CD4 change were identified using multivariable linear regression model. Time to an event (death) was estimated by Kaplan–Meier and predictors of mortality were identified by Cox proportional hazard model.ResultsOut of 340 patients, 42 patients died during the follow-up. Twenty-five (59.5 %) deaths were from malnourished group. Age, baseline CD4, sex, baseline HAART and marital status were significant predictors of immunologic recovery at different time points. Malnutrition was associated with lower CD4 recovery and greater hazard of death.ConclusionsMalnutrition tends to decrease CD4 recovery and predisposes patient to early death.

Rational and cost-effective prescription of drugs requires up-to-date and readily accessible drug information (DI). Availability of and access to DI resources are major factors that affect quality of prescription. The aim of the study was to assess prescribers' DI needs and access to DI resources in Ethiopia. A facility-based, cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted from February to April 2011 in 4 selected public health facilities in southwest Ethiopia. Data on areas of DI needs, access to DI resources, and attitudes of prescribers toward DI services were collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire. The study population consisted of 410 of 447 initially contacted prescribers. The majority of the prescribers (93.4%) explained their needs for DI services. About 32.4% of the participants do not frequently refer to DI resources mainly due to the difficulty of acquiring the required information promptly and/or because they do not have access to DI resources. Compared with participants from a health center, participants from specialized referral, zonal, and district hospitals were found to be 6 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 5.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.77-12.20), 5 (AOR, 4.77; 95% CI, 2.43-9.38), and 4 (AOR, 4.00; 95% CI, 1.50-10.66) times more likely to consult DI resources, respectively. Lack of access to DI resources and difficulty in acquiring the required information on time were the main reasons that prescribers gave for not frequently referring to DI resources. DI services should be established and expanded in health facilities.