RESUMEN
Despite the enormous benefits medicines provide to humanity, their improper disposal frequently leads to detrimental consequences on the environment. Lack of awareness and malpractices concerning expired, leftover, or unused (ELU) medicines have become concerns worldwide. This study assessed community awareness and practices regarding the disposal of ELU medicines in Hawassa City, Ethiopia. A community-based descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used among the urban population of Hawassa City. Multistage sampling procedures were employed to select 405 household (HH) respondents, and purposive sampling techniques were used to select key experts (KEs) and key informants (KIs). A pretested questionnaire was designed for HHs, KEs, and KIs. The results of the study showed that analgesics and antibiotics, used in 52 and 27% of the HHs, respectively, were the most commonly consumed medicines in this city. The vast majority (95.5%) of the HHs did not store expired medicines but disposed of them. Only 10% of the HHs were well informed on how to dispose of ELU medicines. Most (70%) KEs and KIs revealed that there were no awareness-creation mechanisms for the safe disposal of ELU medicines. A significantly high (p < 0.05) percentage (76%) of the HH respondents who were well informed on how to dispose of ELU medicines had higher education, but most (95%) of them indicated that they would not be willing to be involved in "ELU-take-back" programs even if there had been such a mechanism. Field observations confirm significant amounts of medical waste improperly discarded in various areas, including the shores of Lake Hawassa near Hawassa City. The study has shown that awareness of the management of ELU medicines is critically lacking in the community of Hawassa City, posing environmental and human health risks. Moreover, the majority of households practice unsafe disposal of ELU medicines, leading to human health threats and environmental risk.
RESUMEN
The traditional rain-fed agriculture system of Ethiopia is suffering from climate change impacts and extremes. It must be improved to feed the growing population and create a resilient society. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is currently promoted as an approach intended to increase sustainable agricultural productivity, enhance household resilience, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study was, therefore, undertaken to examine how food security can be improved by the adoption of multiple climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices of smallholder farmers in a moist tropical montane ecosystem of Southwest Ethiopia. Data was collected from 384 purposively selected households through cross-sectional study design using a semi-structured questionnaire. Eight Focus group discussions and fifteen key informant interviews were also conducted to check the reliability of the survey data collected. In the study area, a total of eighteen CSA practices, adopted by farmers, were identified. Using principal component analysis, these practices were further grouped into five packages and a multinomial endogenous switching regression model was used to link these packages to the food security status. The findings revealed a great variation in the proportion of households using CSA practices where 92.3 % were using crop management practices whereas 11.2 % were using soil and water conservation practices. The study found that the maximum effect of CSA adoption on food security was by farmers who adopted all the five category CSA technologies. Households that adopted this package were more food secure by 41.2 % in terms of per capita annual food expenditure, 39.8% in terms of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), and 12.1% in terms of Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS) than the non-adopters. The adoption of this group of practices was further influenced positively by farm size, gender, and productive farm asset values. Using CSA practices in combinations and to a relatively larger extent can potentially solve food security problems. Motivating farmers by providing income-generating activities and discouraging land fragmentation through public education is essential. This in turn improves CSA adoption and initiates production assets investment that can absorb climate change risks.