Negga Baraki

HDSS Profile: The Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System

Abstract Kersa HDSS was established in 12 sub-districts of Kersa district, Eastern Hararge, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. The site is principally rural with two small towns (Kersa and Weter). The baseline census was conducted in 2007 and since then has been updated every 6 months, with registration of demographic and health events. Data are entered into the HRS-2 relational database. At baseline a total of 10 085 houses, 10 522 households and 50 830 people were registered. The sex ratio and number of persons per household were 1.0 and 5.1, respectively. At the end of 2013, the population was 60 694. Up to the end of 2013, 12 571 births and 3143 deaths were registered, respectively. Over 85% of births and deaths occurred at home. The annual net population growth ranges from 0.06 to 1.6. The majority of the population in Kersa are not working age group; hence the dependency ratio in most of the years is below 1. The total fertility rate ranges from 4.0 to 5.3. A reduction in neonatal, infant and under-five mortalities was observed. For all deaths, verbal autopsies were done. Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death among adults and malnutrition is the leading cause of death among children aged under 5 years. Kersa HDSS is ready to collaborate with interested researchers on health and demographic issues. For further details please visit: [ http://www.haramaya.edu.et/research/projects/kds-hrc/ ].

Level of health extension service utilization and associated factors among community in Abuna Gindeberet District, West Shoa Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

BackgroundIn Ethiopia, children and mothers have been facing several health problems due to poor access to modern health care facilities and lack of effective demand to utilize the available ones. In response to this, the Ethiopian government initiated the health extension program in 2003 to improve equity in access to preventive, promotive and selected curative health interventions through health extension program. However, the level of health extension service utilization is not known. Therefore, this study presents the level of health extension service utilization and associated factors.MethodsA community based cross sectional study was carried out from February to March 2012. Data was collected through face-to-face interview by using pretested structured questionnaires adopted from review of different related literatures and entered in to EPI Info version 3.5.1. Bivariate analysis between dependent and independent variables was performed. Multivariate analysis was also done to control for possible confounding variable by selecting variable which show statistically significant association (P < 0.2) in bivariate analyses to identify independent predictor factors.ResultsThe proportion of community utilization of health extension service was 39%. Age (AOR = 2.52; 95% CI = 1.53-4.15), occupation (AOR = 3.79; 95% CI = 1.64-12.5), knowledge of community on health extension service (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI = 0.18-0.36), community participation in planning of health extension activities (AOR = 0.22; 95% CI = 0.15-0.33) and graduation of model family (AOR = 0.74; 95% CI = 0.47-0.76) have statistically significant association with community health extension services utilization.ConclusionsThe proportion of community utilization of health extension service was low. Age, occupation, knowledge of community on health extension service, community participation in planning of health extension activities and graduation of model family were identified as the independent factors affecting the community’s utilization of health extension services.

Causes of death among children aged 5 to 14 years old from 2008 to 2013 in Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Kersa HDSS), Ethiopia

Background The global burden of mortality among children is still very huge though its trend has started declining following the improvements in the living standard. It presents serious challenges to the well-being of children in many African countries. Today, Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounts for about 50% of global child mortality. The overall objective of this study was to determine the magnitude and distribution of causes of death among children aged 5 to 14 year olds in the population of Kersa HDSS using verbal autopsy method for the period 2008 to 2013. Methods Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System(Kersa HDSS) was established in September 2007. The center consists of 10 rural and 2 urban kebeles which were selected randomly from 38 kebeles in the district. Thus this study was conducted in Kersa HDSS and data was taken from Kersa HDSS database. The study population included all children aged 5 to 14 years registered during the period of 2008 to 2013 in Kersa HDSS using age specific VA questionnaires. Data were extracted from SPSS database and analyzed using STATA. Results A total of 229 deaths were recorded over the period of six years with a crude death rate of 219.6 per 100,000 population of this age group over the study period. This death rate was 217.5 and 221.5 per 100,000 populations for females and males, respectively. 75% of deaths took place at home. The study identified severe malnutrition(33.9%), intestinal infectious diseases(13.8%) and acute lower respiratory infections(9.2%) to be the three most leading causes of death. In broad causes of death classification, injuries have been found to be the second most cause of death next to communicable diseases(56.3%) attributing to 13.1% of the total deaths. Conclusion and Recommendation In specific causes of death classification severe malnutrition, intestinal infectious diseases and acute lower respiratory infections were the three leading causes of death where, in broad causes of death communicable diseases and injuries were among the leading causes of death. Hence, concerned bodies should take measures to avert the situation of mortality from these causes of death and further inferential analysis into the prevention and management of infectious diseases should also be taken.

Availability of Adequately Iodized Salt at Household Level and Associated Factors in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia

Received May 17, 2016 Revised Aug 20, 2016 Accepted Aug 26, 2016 In Ethiopia, Iodine Deficiency Disorder has been recognized as a serious public health problem for the past six decades. In 2011, an estimated 12 million school-age children were living with inadequate iodine, and 66 million people were at risk of iodine deficiency. One out of every 1000 people is a cretin mentally handicapped, due to a congenital thyroid deficiency, and about 50000 prenatal deaths are occurring annually due to iodine deficiency disorders. Only 5.7% of the households were using iodized salt in Dire Dawa city Administration, which is below the legal requirement.This study assessed availability of adequately iodized salt at household level and associated factors in Dire Dawa town, East Ethiopia. Community based cross-sectional study was carried out among households in Dire Dawa town during March 16-26, 2015. Multistage sampling technique was used. Data were collected using a pretested and structured questionnaire by a face-to-face interview technique. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to check associations and control confounding. A total of 694 participants were participated. The availability of adequately iodized salt (≥15 parts per million) in the study area was 7.5% (95% CI; 5.6-9.5). Multivariate result showed that health information about iodized salt (AOR=8.96, 95% CI; 4.68-17.16) (p=0.03), good knowledge about iodized salt (AOR=9.23, 95% CI; 3.34-25.5) (p=0.01) and using packed salt (AOR=3.99, 95% CI; 1.48-10.73) (p=0.006) were associated with availability of adequately iodized salt at household level. Availability of adequately iodized salt at household level was very low. Hence, households should be sensitized about importance of iodized salt and its proper handling at the household level. Keyword: