Background The occurrence of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects the mental health situation of almost everyone, including University students who spent most of their time at home due to the closure of the Universities. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing depression, anxiety, stress and identifying their associated factors among university students in Ethiopia during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We invited students to complete an online survey using Google forms comprising consent, socio-demographic characteristics, and the standard validated depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21) questionnaire. After completion of the survey from June 30 to July 30, 2020, we exported the data into SPSS 22. Both descriptive and analytical statistics were computed. Associated factors were identified using binary logistic regression and variables with a p-value <0.05 were declared as statistically significant factors with the outcome variables. Results A total of 423 students completed the online survey. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in this study was 46.3%, 52%, and 28.6%, respectively. In the multivariable model, female sex, poor self-efficacy to prevent COVID-19, those who do not read any material about COVID-19 prevention, lack of access to reading materials about their profession, and lack of access to uninterrupted internet access were significantly associated with depression. Female sex, lower ages, students with non-health-related departments, those who do not think that COVID-19 is preventable, and those who do not read any materials about COVID-19 prevention were significantly associated with anxiety. Whereas, being female, students attending 1st and 2nd years, those who do not think that COVID-19 is preventable, presence of confirmed COVID-19 patient at the town they are living in, and lack of access to reading materials about their profession were significantly associated with stress. Conclusions Depression, anxiety, and stress level among University students calls for addressing these problems by controlling the modifiable factors identified and promoting psychological wellbeing of students.

Background Negative attitude and discriminatory behavior of health professionals constitute a major obstacle in psychiatric care and have been pointed out as a key issue in working with mental illness. Understanding about the attitude of nurses is crucial for quality and holistic care of psychiatric services and essential for the successful integration of mental health into primary health care. However, there is a paucity of study to examine the attitude of primary health care nurses towards severe mental disorder in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the attitude of primary health care nurses and its associated factors towards people with severe mental illness in Addis Ababa. Methods Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working at primary health care in Addis Ababa from May to June, 2018. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 634 participants. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used. Data were coded and entered into EPIDATA 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with attitudes of nurses in primary health care. The level of significance was declared at P-value < 0.05 with 95% confidence interval. Results A total of 610 respondents were included in the study with a response rate of 96.2%. The mean age of participants was 28.6 ± 5.9 (SD) years and the prevalence of negative attitude was 48.2%. Multiple logistic regression models revealed that respondents who have diploma [AOR = 3.09, CI (1.20–7.95)], work experience of < 5 years [AOR = 4.49, CI (2.37–8.49)], respondents who didn’t took mh-Gap training [AOR = 4.92, CI (3.05–7.95)] and poor knowledge about mental illness [AOR = 2.84, CI (1.82–4.44) were associated with negative attitude towards people with severe mental illness. Conclusion Nearly half of the participants have negative attitude towards people with severe mental disorders. Therefore, evidence based and contextualized models are warranted to mitigate negative attitudes of primary health care nurses.

Background Cognitive impairment is a common complication of hypothyroidism that affects the patient’s quality of life in different aspects. In Ethiopia, though the prevalence of hypothyroidism is high the magnitude of cognitive impairment among these patients is not known. Therefore, the current study is aimed at determining the prevalence of cognitive impairment and associated factors among adult hypothyroid patients. Methods An institution-based cross-sectional study was employed from February 24 to May 22, 2020, to assess the prevalence of cognitive impairment and associated factors among adult hypothyroid patients. Data was collected by a pretested interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and standardized Mini-mental state examination (SMMSE) tool. A cluster sampling technique was used. Data was entered into Epidata version 4.6 and exported into a statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 25 for further analysis. Both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done. A 95% confidence interval and P-value <0.05 were used to declare statistical significance. Results A total of 216 adult hypothyroid patients were included with a response rate of 98.6%. The mean age was 42.5 (± 11) years. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was 27.3% (95% CI (21.7, 33.8)) and it was significantly associated with increased age (AOR = 1.23, 95% CI (1.11, 1.34)), increased duration of illness (AOR = 1.48, 95% CI (1.14, 1.90)) and high thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level (AOR = 1.3, 95% CI (1.1, 1.6)). Conclusion The prevalence of cognitive impairment among hypothyroid patients was high. Increased age, increased duration of illness and high TSH levels were significantly associated with cognitive impairment. Hence, early screening of cognitive impairment among hypothyroid patients with increased age, increased duration of illness and high TSH level should be given due emphasis to increase patients quality of life.

Introduction In late 2019, a new coronavirus disease known as COVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease 2019) was identified. As there is no any drug to treat this pandemic, the healthcare professionals are disproportionately at higher risk. The mental health outcome is expected to be high. Anxiety is expected to have a significant impact on health professionals, especially among those who work without adequate resources for self-protection. Objectives The objectives of this research was to assess self-reported anxiety symptoms and associated factors among Ethiopian healthcare professionals in the early stages of the pandemic. Methods We have conducted an online cross-sectional study to collect information from healthcare professionals in Ethiopia during the early stage of the outbreak from April 7, 2020 to May 19, 2020. GAD-7 was used for measurement of anxiety. We have used a cut of point of 10 and above to report anxiety symptoms. We have used Google Forms for online data collection and SPSS-22 for analysis. To determine associated factors for anxiety, a binary logistic regression model was used. Variables with p-value < 0.2 during the bivariable binary logistic regression were exported for further analysis in the multivariable binary logistic regression. Finally, variables with p-value <0.05 were considered as significantly associated with the outcomes. Results Three hundred and eighty-eight healthcare professionals filled the online questionnaire; Majority (71.1%) were males. Significant number of respondents (78.9%) reported lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) at the work place. The prevalence of anxiety was 26.8%. Being female (AOR: 1.88; 95% C.I:1.11, 3.19), visiting/treating 30–150 patients per day (AOR: 3.44; 95% C.I:1.51, 7.84), those employed at private healthcare institutions (AOR: 2.40; 95% C.I:1.17, 4.90), who do not believe that COVID-19 is preventable (AOR: 2.04; 95% C.I:1.04, 4.03) and those who reported lack of PPE (AOR: 1.98; 95% C.I:1.04, 3.79) were more likely to be anxious. Conclusions The anxiety prevalence among healthcare professionals in Ethiopia during early stage of COVID-19 pandemic was high. This study shows that lack of preventive equipment, being female, contact with many patients, low self-efficacy and working in private health facilities were risk factors for anxiety. Anxiety prevention among health professionals during COVID-19 pandemic requires a holistic approach including provision of sufficient PPE, improving self-efficacy and addressing problems both at public and private institutions and focusing more on female health professionals.

Background: Vitamin A deficiency is a public health problem in many low-income countries including Ethiopia. Globally, the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency is estimated to be 190 million among children under-five age causing one up to two million deaths annually.Its periodic supply is a major intervention program to reduce the morbidity, mortality, and blindness among the children in Ethiopia. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine associated factors of national vitamin A supplementationamong children aged 6-59 monthsusing the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey Data. Methods: A population based cross-sectional study design wasperformed to determine factors associated with the vitamin A supplyamong children aged between 6 and 59 monthswithin the last six months before the start of the survey. A univariateanalysis, bivariate analysis, binary logistic regression, and generalized linear mixed effect model were appliedto analyze the data. Results: After adjusting for covariates; the odds of taking vitamin A supply were 1.3 times, 1.7 times, and 1.8 times higher among the women who had two, three, and four and above antenatal care visits, respectively. The mothers’ employment status, health cheek up after their delivery,and theirhealth facility delivery were positively influence the uptake of the vitamin A capsule. In addition,women residing in the communities with high proportion of the media exposure[AOR (Adjusted Odds Ratio) = 1.17 (95%CI: 1.00, 1.37)]were positively associated with the receipt of vitamin A capsule.Random effects indicated that the variation on the uptake of vitamin A supplementation between the communities was statistically significant in all stage of the models. Conclusions: The individual and community level characteristics had a significant influence on the uptake of vitamin A supplementation. Therefore, these factors should be considered in policy formulation and programming in order to improve the coverage of vitamin A supplementation in Ethiopia. Keywords: Vitamin A supply, associated factors, multilevellogistic regression analysis, Ethiopia