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Background: In African countries including Ethiopia occupational exposure of needle stick and sharp injuries is higher than elsewhere and it is still a major public health problem. It accounts for 86% of all occupationally related infection transmissions; expose Health Professionals to more than 20 blood borne pathogens. In Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, the magnitude of needle stick and sharp injuries and its health impacts remain unknown. In addition, available statistics underestimate the severity of the problem because most health care workers do not report their injuries. Objective: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of needle stick and sharp injuries among health care workers of public health facilities, Dire Dawa. Methods: A facility based cross sectional study was conducted using quantitative methods on a samples of 305 health care workers from five selected health facilities of Dire Dawa. Results: Both the life time and the last 12 months prevalence of NSSI were 149(53.8%) and 75(26.6%), respectively. The prevalence of NSSIs among clinical nurses, laboratory technologist and midwifery was 57%, 46% and 20%, respectively. Among the 75 cases occurred in the last one year, 49(65.3%) did not report the incident due to absence of reporting protocol (53.1%), fear of isolation and/or discrimination (20.4%), too busy to report (16.3%) and that it was not important to report the incident (10.2%). Although 80% HCWs took HBV vaccine, only 45% completed the full dose. Both before (crude analysis) and after the results were adjusted for selected variables, profession of medical laboratory (p=0.037), sometimes use of personal protective equipment (p=0.001), sometimes recapping needles after use (p=0.001), inadequate availability of post exposure prophylaxis (p=0.011), and working more than 40 H a week (p=0.009)} were factors significantly associated with occupational exposure NSSI. Conclusion: This study revealed high prevalence of NSSIs in the study area. This suggests distribution of adequate safety materials and prophylaxis is mandatory. Exposure prevention among the HCWs must be all health facilities concern and completion of three doses of Hepatitis B must be reiterated. More importantly distribution of syringe and needles which sheath or retract after use, and replace the older one, can be cost effective intervention strategy.

Background: Syphilis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in pregnancy and it is one of the greatest public health challenges. It is responsible for up to 30% of perinatal mortality. Ethiopia is one of the countries in which sexually transmitted infection (STIs) are highly prevalent. However, the data needed to present a realistic picture of the prevalence of syphilis are limited. Objective: To determine the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant mothers attending Antenatal Clinic of Bulchana health center, Shashemene, West Arsi Zone, Ethiopia, 2017. Materials and Methods: Health institution based retrospective cross sectional study was conducted from April 01 to June 01, 2017 among women attended Antenatal Clinic of Bulchana health center during the period of 2014 to 2016. Non probability sampling technique was used to recruit study participants.  A total of 4346 pregnant women were included in  this study. Data was captured by reviewing and observation of a recorded data at the ANC registration book using pre-tested structured check list. Data were entered and cleaned using EpiData version 3.0. and analyzed by SPSS version 21. Binary logistic regression was used and significant variables were further adjusted using multivariate analysis. A p-value <0.05 was considered as level of significance. Result: In this study the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women found to be 1.1% 95%CI [0.8-1.3]. Relatively high prevalence of syphilis 15(1.5%) was observed among age group of 15-19 years. The prevalence of syphilis was high among pregnant women living in rural area 35(1.1%). Being rural dwellers and those with multiple pregnancy, 2-4 and more than 5 pregnancies showed significant association with prevalence of syphilis infection. [(OR=0.68, 95%CI (5.33, 17.32), P=0.04)], [(OR=10, 95% CI(1.36, 74.42), p= 0.02] and  [(OR=2.18, 95%CI(1.20, 3.95), p= 0.01],  respectively. Conclusion: The observed seroprevalence of syphilis among women attending ANC still mandates effective health education campaigns to elucidate the risk factors and prevention of syphilis not only to pregnant women but also the public at large. Strengthening service delivery at the provider and facility level to improve prompt access to effective syphilis diagnostic and treatment services is mandatory. Keywords: syphilis, pregnant women, ANC, Shashemene Ethiopia.

Introduction: Health care workers are at the frontline of the response against the COVID-19 outbreak. Poor preparedness and infection prevention practices among health care workers compound the hazard and occurrence of COVID-19 hospital transmission. Thus, the study aimed to assess preparedness toward COVID-19 pandemics and associated factors among health care workers in Hospitals of Eastern Ethiopia. Methods: Facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 20 June to July 10 2020. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 423 health care workers. Data were collected using a structured self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS Version 23. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was conducted to identify factors associated with the outcome variable, and statistical significance was declared at a p-value less than 0.05. Results: This study revealed that the proportion of health care workers’ preparedness toward the COVID-19 pandemic was 40.9% (95% CI: 36.2–45.9). Working in a public hospital (AOR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.6–4.3), being unafraid of transmitting COVID-19 to patients (Adjusted odds ratio/AOR = 4.6, 95% CI: 2.2–10.0), feeling safe at the workplace (AOR = 3.3, 95% CI: 1.7–6.4)), satisfied with the infection control policy (AOR = 6.0, 95% CI: 2.3–15.0), and not feeling anxious about the likelihood of COVID-19 spread (AOR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3–3.4) were significantly associated with COVID-19 preparedness. Conclusion: The majority of the health care workers were not prepared for COVID-19 pandemics. Feeling safe at the workplace scared of transmitting COVID-19 to patients, satisfied with the infection control policy, and feeling anxious concerning the likelihood of COVID-19 were factors associated with health care workers’ preparedness to COVID-19. The current awareness creation training, including motivational and psychological preparation for all health care workers, is mandatory, regardless of their profession or working place.