Introduction In 2014, 159 million under 5 year-old children were stunted (suffered chronic undernutrition) worldwide. Identifying risk factors for stunting among 6 to 24 month-age children in Mekelle City is important for evidence-based interventions. Method Case-Control study design was undertaken in 330 children, from January to February 2016. World Health Organization (WHO) anthropometric software and statistical package for social sciences version 20 were used for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was applied. Result The following were identified as risk factors for stunting: mother’s lack of formal education (adjusted odds ratio (AOR = 6.4)), mother height less than 150cm (AOR = 4.2), mother with a body mass index less than 18.5 kg/m 2 (AOR = 3.8), childbirth weight less than 2.5kg (AOR = 5.3), household with two and above under-five children (AOR = 2.9), a WHO diet diversity score < 4 (AOR = 3.2) and repeated diarrheal episodes (AOR = 5.3). Conclusion The factors associated with stunting among children aged 6 to 24 months are no formal education in mother, mother height less than 150cm, low BMI of the mother, low birth weight, low WHO DDS, number of under 5 children in the household and repeated diarrheal episodes. Nutritional interventions should give emphasis to maternal education, maternal nutrition, childbirth weight, family size, diet diversity, and diarrheal diseases.

IntroductionAnemia affects around 38.2% and 22% of pregnant women at a global and national level respectively. In developing countries, women start pregnancy with already depleted body stores of iron and other vitamins with significant variation of anemia within and between regions.ObjectiveTo identify the determinants of anemia among pregnant mothers attending antenatal care in Dessie town health facilities, northern central Ethiopia.MethodsA health facility based unmatched case control study was conducted among 112 cases and 336 controls from January to March 2016 G.C. The sample size was determined by using Epi Info version 7.1.5.2. Study subjects were selected using consecutive sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, entered using Epi Data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression model was used to see the determinants of anemia. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) and p-value<0.05 were used to see the significant association.ResultsFailure to take dark green leafy vegetables per two weeks (AOR = 5.02, 95% CI: 2.16, 11.71), didn’t take chicken per two weeks (AOR = 2.68, 95% CI: 1.22, 5.86), 1st trimester (AOR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.12, 3.84), 3rd trimester (AOR = 2.96, 95% CI: 1.53, 5.72), HIV infection (AOR = 6.78, 95% CI: 2.28, 20.18) and medication (AOR = 3.57 95% CI: 1.60, 7.98) were positively associated with anemia.ConclusionsInadequate intake of dark green leafy vegetables, inadequate consumption of chicken, trimester of the current pregnancy, HIV infection and medication were the determinants of anemia among pregnant women. Therefore, anemia prevention strategy should include promotion of adequate intake of dark green leafy vegetables and chicken, increase meal pattern during the entire pregnancy and strengthen the prevention of mother to child HIV transmission/antenatal care programs.

Background. Glycemic control is the level of glucose in diabetes patient. Evidence regarding glycemic control is scarce in resource-limited settings, and this study was conducted to generate information regarding the prevalence and predictors of glycemic control among diabetes mellitus patients attending their care from the referral hospitals of the Amhara region, Ethiopia. Methods. A cross-sectional study design was implemented. A simple random sampling technique was used. Data were collected from March 2018 to January 2020. The data were collected using interviews, chart review, and blood samples. Hemoglobin A1c was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography. Data were entered into Epi-info software and analyzed by SPSS software. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate the prevalence of glycemic control; linear regression was used to identify the predictors of HbA1c. Results. A total of 2554 diabetes patients were included giving for the response rate of 95.83%. The mean age of the study participants was 54.08 years [ SD   standard   deviation ± 8.38   years ]. The mean HbA1c of the study participants was 7.31% [ SD ± 0.94 % ]. Glycemic control was poor in 55.32% [95% CI: 53.4%-57.25%] of diabetes patients. The glycemic control of diabetes patients was determined by BMI (β 0.1; [95% CI: 0.09-0.1]), type 2 diabetes (β -0.14; [95% CI: -0.11-0.16]), age (β 0.22; [95% CI: 0.02-0.024]), duration of the disease (β 0.04; [95% CI: 0.037-0.042]), the presence of hypertension (β 0.12; [95% CI:0.09–0.16]), regular physical exercise (β -0.06; [95% CI: -0.03-0.09]), medication adherence (β -0.16; [95% CI: -0.14-0.18]), and male (β 0.34; [95% CI: 0.31-.037]). Conclusion. The glycemic control of diabetes patients was poor, and it needs the attention of decision-makers.

Abstract:The aim of this study was to Assess and compare nutritional status and associated factors of 6 to 59 months old children from food secure and food insecure households in rural Kebeles of Saesie Tsaeda Emba district, Tigray, North Ethiopia. As a result, a comparative, cross sectional study was conducted on 841 children (421 from food secure and 420 from food insecure households) from February to March, 2014. Multistage sampling method was used to select Children from each kebele. Anthropometric measurements were entered and calculated using ENA for SMART 2007software then transferred to SPSS version 20 to be processed and analyzed. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify associated factors of under nutrition at significance level p-value < 0.05. About (46.1%, 52.1%), (18.1%, 20.5%), and 7.1%, 12.6%) of the children from the food secure and food insecure kebelles were stunted, underweight and wasted respectively. Occupation of father, head of family, and duration of continued breast feeding were the factors associated with stunting in food secure households. Whereas age of the child, head of family, and duration of continued breast feeding were determinant factors for stunting in children from the food insecure households. Similarly, educational status of father, sex of the child, and current breast feeding status of the child were the factors associated with underweight for children from food secure households and age of mother, occupational status of father, sex of child, 1 st complementary food given to the child, and main source of water to the household were the main predictors of underweight in the food insecure households. The factors associated with child wasting in the food secure households were age of the father and number of cattle owned by the household and age of child and main source of water to the household were the factors associated with child wasting from the food insecure households. Finally, under nutrition among under-five years of age children was very high in the population. Therefore, addressing food security and then nutrition security using the productive safety net program in harmony with participation of all responsible bodies is crucial; as children of the food secure households were at better nutritional outcomes when compared to those of food insecure households.

Background: Iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency in adolescent girls from the developing world. One of the recommended interventions to improve iron status in adolescent girls is iron supplementation. Yet the provision of iron supplements to adolescent girls proved to be a challenging task for the health systems across the developing world. Objective: The objective of the study was to examine means of reaching adolescent girls for iron supplementation in Northern Ethiopia. Methodology: Analytical cross-sectional study consisting of both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis was used in this study. Stratified multi-stage systematic random sampling technique was adopted and primary quantitative data were collected from 828 (578 school attending and 250 non school attending) adolescent girls recruited from nine districts of Tigray. The primary quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. The qualitative data collected through key informant interviews and focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim and qualitatively analyzed. Results: The mean (SD) age of the girls was 16.7 (1.4) years. Four hundred forty seven (54%), 355 (42.9%) and 26 (3.1%) of the adolescent girls had low, medium and high diet diversity scores, respectively. More than half, 467 (56%), of the adolescent girls believed that adolescent girls were overloaded with household jobs everyday compared to boys from their respective communities. Key informants said that, there is no adolescent nutrition message promoted in the study area. Low community awareness, perceiving iron tablet as a contraceptive, religious and cultural influences, and lack of confidence in supplementation value of iron tablets, are some of the potential barriers mentioned by the key informant and focus group discussion participants. Schools (45%), health centers (27%) and health posts (26%) were the preferred public facilities for provision of iron supplements to student adolescent girls whereas schools (11%), health centers (47%) and health posts (41%) were the preferred public facilities for provision of iron supplements to adolescent girls who were not attending schools from the study communities. Conclusion: The health posts and health centers were the preferred health facilities for iron supplementation to adolescent girls who were not attending schools while the school was the preferred facility for iron supplementation of student adolescent girls.