RESUMEN

INTRODUCTION: Health care workers are the most affected part of the world population due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries prioritize vaccinating health workers against COVID-19 because of their susceptibility to the virus. However, the acceptability of the vaccine varies across populations. Thus, this study aimed to determine the health care worker's intentions to accept the COVID-19 vaccine and its associated factors in southwestern Ethiopia, 2021. METHODS: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among health care workers in public hospitals in southwestern Ethiopia from March 15 to 28, 2021. A simple random sampling method was used to select 405 participants from each hospital. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, such as frequency and percentage, were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression was also performed to identify factors associated with health care worker's intention to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Statistically significant variables were selected based on p-values (<0.05) and the adjusted odds ratio was used to describe the strength of association with 95% confidence intervals. RESULT: Among the respondents, 48.4% [95% CI: 38.6, 58.2] of health care workers intended to accept COVID-19. Intention to accept COVID-19 vaccination was significantly associated with physicians (AOR = 9.27, 95% CI: 1.27-27.32), professionals with a history of chronic illness (AOR = 4.07, 95% CI: 2.02-8.21), perceived degree of risk of COVID-19 infection (AOR = 4.63, 95% CI: 1.26-16.98), positive attitude toward COVID-19 prevention (AOR = 6.08, 95% CI: 3.39-10.91) and good preventive practices (AOR = 2.83, 95% CI: 1.58-5.08). CONCLUSION: In this study, the intention of health care workers to accept the COVID-19 vaccine was low. Professional types, history of chronic illness, perceived degree of risk to COVID-19 infection, attitude toward COVID-19 and preventive practices were found to be factors for intention to accept COVID-19 vaccine in professionals. It is important to consider professional types, history of chronic illness, perceived degree of risk to COVID-19, attitude of professionals and preventive behaviors to improve the intention of professionals' vaccine acceptance.

Asunto(s)

Vacunas contra la COVID-19/uso terapéutico , COVID-19/psicología , Personal de Salud/psicología , Pandemias , Adulto , Anciano , COVID-19/epidemiología , COVID-19/prevención & control , Etiopía/epidemiología , Conocimientos, Actitudes y Práctica en Salud , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Médicos/psicología , Factores de Riesgo , SARS-CoV-2 , Encuestas y Cuestionarios

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Good adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) suppresses the viral load, reconstitutes the immune system, and decreases opportunistic infections among HIV-positive patients. However, adherence to ART is still challenging in developing countries such as Ethiopia. The study, therefore, aimed to assess adherence and its associated factors among HIV-positive patients on ART in southern Ethiopia in 2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 329 randomly selected participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data through a face-to-face interview from January 23 to February 23, 2020. Data were entered into Epidata 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used for analysis. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant in a multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: In total, 274 patients (83.3%) had good adherence to ART, while 16.7% did not adhere. Age between 39 and 49 years old (AOR=0.068, 95% CI 0.008, 0.578), urban residency (AOR=5.186, 95% CI 1.732, 15.529), an educational status of being unable to read and write (AOR=0.097, 95% CI 0.012, 0.771), an educational status of reading and writing with no formal education (AOR=0.056, 95% CI 0.006, 0.532), comorbidity (AOR=0.042, 95% CI 0.013, 0.139), disclosure (AOR=3.583, 95% CI 1.008, 12.739), WHO clinical stage II (AOR=0.098, 95% CI 0.021, 0.453), and CD4 count ≥500 cells/mm3 (AOR=5.634, 95% CI 1.203, 26.383) were significantly associated with adherence to ART among patients. CONCLUSION: The adherence of patients to ART is relatively low compared to other studies conducted in different regions. Age 39-49 years, educational status, comorbidity, and WHO clinical staging were negatively associated with ART adherence. Residency, disclosure, and current CD4 category greater than or equal to 500 cells/mm3 were positively associated with adherence. Good counseling to patients from rural areas, with low educational status, and with low CD4 counts, and on the importance of disclosure, is recommended and should be given by professionals.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: A coronavirus pandemic has reached all over the world. It is a highly contagious virus spreading from human to human by respiratory droplet infection and close contact. Applying preventive measures is very important in tackling the spread of the disease since there is no curative antiviral drug. The pandemic of the virus has impacted different institutions including the university. To overcome the impact, students are resuming face to face education by applying preventive measures of Covid-19. This study is undertaken to assess KAP in Mizan Tepi University, 2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 402 randomly selected participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from December 1-10/2020. Data were entered into Epidata 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used for analyses. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used to identify significant variables in multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: In this study, 47%, 54%, and 42.8% of the students had good knowledge, positive attitude, and good practice towards Covid-19, respectively. Being from health sciences (AOR= 2.983, 95% CI (1.869, 4.763)) was significantly associated with good knowledge. Being from health sciences (AOR= 1.86, 95% CI (1.169, 2.970)), female sex (AOR=0.628, 95% CI (0.405, 0.975)), at least one parent having diploma or degree (AOR= 0.455, 95% CI (0.236, 0.878)), and 1000-1500 ETB monthly income (AOR= 0.403, 95% CI (0.189, 0.856)) were significantly associated with students' attitude. Being rural residence (AOR = 1.740, 95% CI (1.136, 2.663)), positive knowledge (AOR=1.893, 95% CI (1.2322.909)), and positive attitude ((AOR=2.676, 95% CI (1.745, 4.105)) were positively associated with the students practice. CONCLUSION: The KAP of the students towards the Covid-19 was low. Being a health sciences student was an explanatory variable for better knowledge. Sex, being a health science college student, parents' educational status, and monthly income were predictors of students' attitude. Residency, knowledge, and attitude were independent predictors of practice. Awareness creation on preventive behaviors among the students is highly recommended.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis, which is an infectious disease, is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Ethiopia is facing high tuberculosis burdens. Even if it is preventable and curable, individuals' KAP towards the disease is one of the bottlenecks in decreasing the disease burdens. TGH, located in the Sheka zone, is one of the remote areas and the KAP towards TB is unknown. Therefore, the current study was undertaken in TGH to assess the KAP towards TB. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 415 randomly selected participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data by a face-to-face interview from May 23 to June 23/2019. Data were entered into Epidata 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 21 for descriptive analysis. RESULTS: A total of 345 (83%) respondents have heard about TB, while 76 (18%) respondents said persistence productive cough as symptoms of tuberculosis. Only 9.9% of participants mentioned bacteria as the cause of the diseases and 170 (41%) considered that the transmission is via air droplets. The majority (70%) of participants responded that its transmission is not preventable and overall 236 (56.9%) had high overall knowledge about TB. Thirty percent of the respondents considered that TB is serious to the area while 29% considered TB is not very serious for them. Fifty-three percent of the participants were having a favorable attitude towards tuberculosis. The majority (85%) did not cover their mouth while coughing, while 79.5% did not screen for tuberculosis and 82% of participants have not received any health education about TB. Overall, 44.6% practiced TB prevention. CONCLUSION: The majority of the study participants had high overall knowledge and positive attitude towards tuberculosis prevention, which are not seen in the practice of tuberculosis. Effective educational programs should be implemented to overcome the problem.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Labor pain is distressing and produces undue side effects to both woman and fetus. In low-income countries like Ethiopia, addressing pain relief is often neglected. Professionals attending labor may not have awareness of obstetric analgesia. Besides this, there is a lack of published research on perceptions of obstetric analgesia among health professionals in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to explore perceptions of obstetric analgesia among midwives attending normal vaginal deliveries in Durame Hospital. METHODS: The study adopted an exploratory descriptive qualitative approach in Durame General Hospital, Kembata Tembaro Zone, Southern Ethiopia from March 1 to April 2, 2017. Fifteen midwives were purposely selected and participated in in-depth interviews. Data from interviews were transcribed, translated to English, coded, and categorized into themes. Data analysis was initiated alongside data collection using a thematic approach. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. RESULTS: Scarcity of knowledge, negative attitudes, lack of trained personnel, and absence of protocols were impediments to using labor analgesia for midwives to relieve labor pain. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that perceptions and practices of midwives with regard to labor analgesia needs special attention to address labor pain by scaling up forms and practice of labor analgesia in such a way that internationally accepted standards are met.