BackgroundAntenatal care (ANC) is one of the evidence based interventions to decrease the probability of bad health outcomes for mothers and their newborns. Effectiveness of antenatal care, however, relies on the quality of care provided during each antenatal care visit. Hence this study attempted to assess the quality of antenatal care services at public health facilities of Bahir-Dar special zone, North Western Ethiopia.MethodsA facility based cross-sectional study employing both quantitative and qualitative methods was conducted from March to April 2010 in Bahir-Dar special zone, North Western Ethiopia. Quality of care was measured as a proportion of patients receiving recommended components of care. To measure the indicators, data was collected from 369 pregnant women who attended ANC clinics in eight public health facilities, during the data collection period. Data were collected through exit interviews with ANC attendees, observation during consultation, and in-depth interviews with health care providers.ResultsPregnant mothers attending ANC clinics were found to receive only part of recommended care components. Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test, blood group and Rhesus factor tests were done only for 73 (19.8%) and 133 (36.0%) of the women, respectively. Moreover 236 (64.0%) of the mothers missed the opportunity of receiving iron/folic acid supplement during their ANC visit. Three hundred fifty five (96.2%) of the women received tetanus toxoid vaccine. And only 226 (61.2%) of the women had their conjunctiva checked for anemia. Lack of reagents partly explained the problems observed in the provision of recommended care components.ConclusionAlmost half, 175 (47.7%) of the study women were not satisfied and a large proportion of mothers are missing opportunities to receive screening (like blood pressure and weight measurements) and preventive components of antenatal care (iron/folic acid supplementation). Therefore, efforts should be targeted to avoid missed opportunities by taking quality improvement measures including the fulfillment of all necessary resources.

BackgroundUnmet need for family planning is a major problem of developing countries. Evidences about unmet need for family planning and associated factors are not enough in Dangila town. Therefore, this study was done to assess the magnitude and determinants of unmet need for family planning among currently married women in Dangila town.MethodologyCommunity based cross sectional study design was used to collect data from a total of 551 currently married women from February to March 2014. Data were collected using pretested structured interviewer administered questionnaire after written consent was obtained from respondents. Collected data were edited, coded, and entered to SPSS version 16.0. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done to identify determinants of unmet need for family planning.ResultsThis study revealed that 17.4 % of married women had unmet need for family planning. In this study, women who were housewife/farmers were about 7 [OR = 6.81 (1.91–24.29)] times more likely to have unmet need compared to employed women. Women who were not counseled about family planning by health workers [OR = 6.76 (3.17–14.42)], women whose partner had non-supportive attitude for family planning use [OR = 3.34 (1.26–8.90)] and rural women [OR = 17.65 (4.35–71.67)] were also more likely to have unmet need for family planning. About 33 %, 32 %, 23.5 % and 11.8 % of women mentioned less perceived risk of pregnancy due to breast feeding, fear of side effects, partner opposition and religious prohibition respectively as reasons for not using contraceptives at the time of interview.ConclusionsThe level of unmet need for family planning in the study area is still high compared to the target set (10 %) in the national family planning guide plan of Ethiopia to be achieved by the end of 2015. Therefore, it is important to strengthen counseling and partner involvement in Dangila town to reduce unmet need for family planning.

Introduction. The first two years of life are a critical window of opportunity for ensuring optimal child growth and development. Nutritional deficiencies during this period can lead to impaired cognitive development, compromised educational achievement, and low economic productivity. Improving infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in children aged 0-23 months is therefore critical to improved nutrition, health, and development. Objective. The aim of the study is to assess the prevalence of complementary feeding practice and its associated factors among mothers with children aged 6−23 months in Lasta District, Northeast Ethiopia, 2015. Methods. A community based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 476 mothers who had children aged 6-23 months in the study area. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the required sample. A face-to-face interview was done to collect data using structured questionnaire. Data were entered with EPI info version 3.5.1 and cleaning and analysis were done using SPSS version 16. Frequencies distribution and binary and multiple logistic regressions were done. Results. In this study only 56.5% of children aged 6-23 months received appropriate complementary feeding, considering timely introduction, minimum dietary diversity, and meal frequency. Exposure to public media [AOR = 2.50; 95% CI: 1.44, 4.35], occupation of mother [AOR = 9.50; 95% CI: 1.02, 14.25], mothers decision making role on how to use family income [AOR = 5.54; 95% CI: 1.19, 11.74], and use of postnatal care service [AOR = 5.98; 95% CI: 1.49, 13.96] were found to be independent predictors of complementary feeding practice. Conclusion and Recommendation. About 43.5% of mothers were not feeding their children complementary food appropriately, which would have negative implication on the health of infants and young children. There was a statistically significant association of inappropriate complementary feeding practices with mothers' occupation, postnatal care service, media exposure, and mothers' decision making role on how the money is used. Health professionals should focus on advising and counseling mothers on appropriate complementary feeding during prenatal, delivery, postnatal, and immunization services.

Background: Attrition of health professionals from public health sectors is found to be a barrier to effectiveness of health systems and to provide essential health service to population. In Ethiopia, the public health system is the major provider of health care service to the people. In particular, the poor segment of community uses public hospital, health centers and clinic, since the private health facilities are inaccessible and unaffordable to them. The aim of this study was to determine the magnitude and factors associated with health professionals' attrition from public health sectors in Bahir Dar city. Methods: A Facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in September-October 2012. All inclusive sampling techniques of five years document reviews were used to select 727 health professional documents. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using structured questionnaires and indepth-interview guides respectively, by trained data collectors. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, proportion and chi square test) were used to describe the study population in relation to relevant variables. To identify independent predictors of attrition, only variables that were statistically significant during bivariate analysis were entered into multiple logistic regression models to control the effects of confounders. Pvalues <0.05 were considered as statically significant. Result: The attrition rates of health professionals from public health sectors in Bahir Dar city were found to be 39.6%. Age, sex, marital status, educational status, workplace, current salary, professional category and work experience were the main factors associated with health professionals' attrition from public health sectors. Conclusion: The findings showed that the level of health professionals' attrition is high in the study area. Policy makers and health mangers should design appropriate retention strategies for health professionals at public health sectors in terms of most associated factors with attritions of health professionals to reduce the prevalence of health professionals' attrition from public health sectors in collaboration with development partners and concerned body.