Solomon Mekonnen Abebe

University of Gondar | UOG · College of Medicine and Health Sciences

Background Improved access to quality antenatal care (ANC) promotes healthy behaviors and early complication management, enhancing maternal and newborn outcomes. The Enhancing Nutrition and Antenatal Infection Treatment for Maternal and Child Health (ENAT) intervention in Ethiopia aimed to increase newborn birth weight by improving ANC utilization...

Background Poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy creates a stressful environment that can lead to long-term effects on tissue development. Understanding the food consumption score can be used to prevent problems associated with poor dietary intake of pregnant mothers. In Ethiopia, the food consumption score ranges from 54% to 81.5%, which is far...

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak affected most universities, and it severely disrupted their face-to-face teaching and learning processes. The University of Gondar(UoG) and the University of Rwanda (UR) were no exceptions. Before the pandemic, Elearning was not an education norm in both institutions. Education was mainly face-to-face, inside a four-w...

Background: A needs assessment identifies the differences between actual and ideal situations to facilitate the development of a new programme or improve existing services.Objectives: This article shares our experiences conducting the needs assessment in a context where people had limited or no understanding of the need being assessed.Method: Adher...

Introduction The double burden of malnutrition refers to the simultaneous presence of under nutrition and overweight, obesity, or diet-related non-communicable diseases which might occur at the population, household, and individual level. The simultaneous presence of overweight/obese mothers with undernourished children in the same household, as we...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen responsible for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). In a murine model of P. aeruginosa CAUTI, we previously demonstrated that urea within urine suppresses quorum sensing and induces the Entner-Douderoff (E-D) pathway. The E-D pathway consists of the genes zwf, pgl, edd...

Maternal mental health is a neglected but major global public health challenge, making a substantial contribution to maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of common mental disorders and their determinants among pregnant women in the Northwest of Ethiopia. Data were collected from 872 pre...

Community-based newborn care (CBNC) has been implemented in Ethiopia across the maternal, neonatal, and child health continuum of care with the goal of lowering newborn mortality. However, neonatal mortality rate in Ethiopian is among the highest in the world. Why neonatal mortality remains high in the face of such effective interventions is the is...

Background The prevalence of prenatal common mental disorders afflicting the global community, including Ethiopia, is thriving. Therefore, a time-efficient and valid screening tool is required. This study aimed to culturally adapt and validate the self-reporting questionnaire-20 tool developed by the World Health Organization among pregnant mothers...

Community health workers, also known as health extension workers (HEWs), play an important role in health promotion. This study evaluates HEWs' knowledge, a itude, and self-efficacy for non-communicable diseases (NCD) health promotion. HEWs (n = 203) completed a struc-tured questionnaire on knowledge, a itude, behaviour, self-efficacy and NCD risk...

Introduction Contraceptive dynamics is the use of contraception, unmet need, discontinuation, and/or switching of contraception. Women with disabilities (WWDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face a common problem: a low prevalence of contraceptive usage and a high unmet need. Even though certain studies have been conducted in high-inco...

It is often challenging for youth with disabilities to access university education in Africa, and for those who manage to make it to university, while there, their experiences are still not barrier-free. The purpose of this study was to uncover the experiences of the barriers and facilitators to inclusion for youth with disabilities in universities...

Background: Discontinuation of contraception for reasons other than wanting to become pregnant is a public health concern as it affects women's autonomy in sexual and reproductive health decision making as well as gender equality. Studies identified various factors, including community perception and users' dissatisfaction that limited the reach a...

Introduction Suicide is a deliberate attempt to take one's own life. Suicidal behavior among adolescents and young people, a significant global public health issue, is under-researched, particularly in developing nations like Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of suicide attempts and their determinants among school-aged...

Purpose: Youth with disabilities in Africa continue to face significant challenges in accessing and participating in general education settings. This study aimed to explore the barriers and facilitators to inclusive education among youth with disabilities in Grades 7-9, in Ethiopia and Ghana. Method: A qualitative descriptive approach was adopted t...

Healthcare-associated infections are major causes of complications that lead to extended hospital stays and significant medical costs. The use of medical devices, including catheters, increases the risk of bacterial colonization and infection through the presence of a foreign surface. Two outcomes are observed for catheterized patients: catheter-as...

In rod-shaped bacteria, morphological plasticity occurs in response to stress, which blocks cell division to promote filamentation. We demonstrate here that overexpression of the patatin-like phospholipase variant CapV Q329R , but not CapV, causes pronounced sulA -independent pyridoxine-inhibited cell filamentation in the Escherichia coli K-12-deri...

For understanding the heating and cooling degree days, determining suitable base temperature is essential. This study intends to determine and map the base temperatures required for estimating heating and cooling degree days by taking 28 National center for environmental prediction (NCEP) stations that are nearest to the diverse climatic principal...

Background Cervical cancer is considered preventable disease, though it is the second largest killer of women’s cancer in low and middle-income countries. Despite the government’s attempts to broaden screening facilities, the screening service utilization was poor. Our study evaluated the impact of health education intervention on women’s demand fo...

Introduction Community-based newborn care (CBNC) is an effective and efficient public health intervention that has been implemented in Ethiopia across the maternal, neonatal, and child health continuum of care with the goal of lowering newborn death. But Ethiopian neonatal mortality rate is among the highest in the world. "Why neonatal mortality st...

Background Violence as a known serious public health problem affects people in all stages of life, from childhood to the elderly. In society, one of the most visible forms of violence is young people violence, whereas they, adolescents and young adults, are the main victims of such violence. There was limited information on the burden of violence a...

Abstract: Restricting women giving birth in health care facilities from choosing the most comfortable position during labor and birth is a global problem. This study was aimed to examine the effect of flexible sacrum birth positions on maternal and neonatal outcomes in public health facilities in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region. A non-equivalent control g...

Objective The study aims to determine discontinuation among long-acting reversible contraceptive users at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after initiation and its associated factors among new long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) users. Design A facility-based multicentre prospective cohort study was conducted with a sample size of 1766 women. Settin...

Background: Implementation of recommended intrapartum care intervention varies across places due to contextual socio-cultural and behavioral determinants. Previous research has utilized several operationalizations to measure intrapartum intervention content and has failed to analyze provider and facility-related factors that influence intrapartum i...

The energy need for comfort rises as the living standard and urbanization escalate. This study intends to regionalize the climatic zones of Ethiopia and estimate the energy needs of respective regions based on the prevalent method of degree days. For this temperature data for 952 National Center for Environmental Prediction (1NCEP) stations from 19...

Introduction: Overweight/ obesity are increasing at an alarming rate throughout the

Introduction Contraceptive dynamics is the use of contraception, unmet need, discontinuation and/or switching of contraception. Women with disabilities (WWDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face a common problem: a low prevalence of contraceptive usage and a high unmet need. Despite the fact that certain studies have been conducted in...

Time management contributes to work efficiency, maintaining balance, and job satisfaction by promoting productivity and success. Most people believe they have so much to do and not enough time, and they attribute their unmet expectations, poor results, and low productivity to a lack of time. The aim of this study was to determine the magnitude and...

Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is becoming a major public health problem globally; it is clear that the burden of MetS is rapidly increasing the rates of non-communicable diseases (NCD). In Ethiopia studies done so far have shown a large disparity in magnitude of the prevalence of MetS and were mainly institution-based studies. Therefore, thi...

Plain language summary Essential newborn care is a set of practices provided by healthcare workers and mothers to every newborn during delivery. Studies are scarce regarding the quality of newborn care implementation. Therefore, this study aimed to measure the magnitude and factors associated with essential newborn care implementation perceived qua...

Objective The health system context influences the implementation of evidence-based practices and quality of healthcare services. Ethiopia aims at reaching universal health coverage but faces low primary care utilisation and substandard quality of care. We assessed the health extension workers’ perceived context and the preparedness of health posts...

Objective The health system context influences the implementation of evidence-based practices and quality of healthcare services. Ethiopia aims at reaching universal health coverage but faces low primary care utilisation and substandard quality of care. We assessed the health extension workers’ perceived context and the preparedness of health posts...

Objective This study aimed to assess dietary practice and associated factors among patients with diabetes attending the Debre Tabor General Hospital. Design Institutional-based cross-sectional study. Setting Amhara regional state, Debre Tabor General Hospital. Participants Patients with diabetes attending the diabetics’ clinic. Measurements The stu...

Background Birth-preparedness and complication readiness is a comprehensive strategy aimed at promoting the timely utilization of skilled maternal and neonatal health care. Pregnancy-related complications both on the mother and the newborn could be largely alleviated if there is a well-consolidated birth preparedness and complication readiness plan...

Introduction Even though the World Health Organization recommends daily oral iron with folic acid (IFA) supplementation as part of the antenatal care to prevent anemia, still the utilization remains low in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of adherence of iron with folic acid...

Background The neonatal period is the most vulnerable stage of life. In Ethiopia, neonatal illness is common and the reduction in neonatal mortality is not as significant as for under-five mortality. Objectives To determine the prevalence and factors associated with neonatal illness symptoms reported by mothers delivering in health facilities in N...

Background Although Ethiopia has developed many strategies to promote health facility delivery, more than half of the women gave birth at home contributing to high maternal and neonatal mortality. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the determinants of health facility delivery in Northwest Ethiopia. Methods A community-based unmatched case-con...

Background Despite the efforts put forth in improving neonatal survival, there is still a high rate of neonatal morbidity and mortality in northwest Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the essential newborn care service readiness scores and explore the health facility-related barriers in North Gondar Zone, Northwest Ethiopia. Method...

Background Due to low care utilization, a complex intervention was done for two years to optimize the Ethiopian Health Extension Program. Improved quality of the integrated community case management services was an intermediate outcome of this intervention through community education and mobilization, capacity building of health workers, and streng...

Background Focused antenatal care is directed at sustaining maternal health and improving fetal wellbeing to ensure birth of a healthy neonate. Failure to implement focused antenatal care can result in inability to reduce maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in low income countries. Due to evidence-practice gaps, however, thousands of mat...

Background: Low birthweight (< 2500 g) is an important marker of maternal health and is associated with neonatal mortality, long-term development and chronic diseases. Household surveys remain an important source of population-based birthweight information, notably Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys...

Background Termination of pregnancy (TOP) is a common cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. Population-based surveys are the major data source for TOP data in LMICs but are known to have shortcomings that require improving. The EN-INDEPTH multi-country survey employed a full pregnancy history approach with r...

Background Low birthweight (< 2500 g) is an important marker of maternal health and is associated with neonatal mortality, long-term development and chronic diseases. Household surveys remain an important source of population-based birthweight information, notably Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys...

Background Paradata are (timestamped) records tracking the process of (electronic) data collection. We analysed paradata from a large household survey of questions capturing pregnancy outcomes to assess performance (timing and correction processes). We examined how paradata can be used to inform and improve questionnaire design and survey implement...

Background Termination of pregnancy (TOP) is a common cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. Population-based surveys are the major data source for TOP data in LMICs but are known to have shortcomings that require improving. The EN-INDEPTH multi-country survey employed a full pregnancy history approach with r...

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are dramatically increased in the world due to the advancement of technology and competitiveness of markets. There were limited studies carried out regarding WMSDs among bank workers in Africa particularly in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the magnitude of work-re...

Introduction Despite, risky sexual behavior behaviors adversely affect the health of youth people, youth has been start sexual lives during teenager is increasing, thus youth has been engaged in risky sexual behaviors. However, almost all the previous studies are institutional based and did not considered out school youth. Therefore, this community...

Abstract Objective This study aimed to determine the prevalence of fatigue and the factors associated among adult people living with HIV attending antiretroviral therapy clinic in Gondar town, Ethiopia. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Governmental health facility that provides HIV care in Gondar town. Outcome measure Fatigue is defined by nine i...

Background Though long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are highly effective, have minimal side effects, require minimal follow-up, and are low cost, only 10% of contraceptives used in Ethiopia are LARCs. The reason for this low uptake is not understood at the country or regional level. Therefore, this study identified determinants of LARC...

Background: Cervical cancer is a public health concern worldwide, and is increasing in developing countries. Despite the efforts of governments, demand for cervical cancer screening is low and not well studied. As such, this study was done to figure out the demand for cervical cancer screening in Tigray regional state. Methods: A cross-sectional st...

Background Cervical cancer is a public health concern worldwide, and is increasing in developing countries. Despite the efforts of governments, demand for cervical cancer screening is low and not well studied. As such, this study was done to figure out the demand for cervical cancer screening in Tigray regional state. Methods A cross-sectional stu...

Background: The magnitude of food insecurity in Ethiopia ranges from 38.7% to 82.3% among the general population. Children under the age of five years were more prone to food insecurity and its serious consequences like anemia, low bone density, frequent episodes of common cold, stomachache, poor educational performance, and dental carries in deve...

Purpose: Hemodialysis is a renal replacement therapy for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who consume substantial healthcare resources, which increases the economic burden. Plenty of factors affects the cost of hemodialysis treatment, particularly in resource-limited settings. Moreover, the demand for hemodialysis may decrease as the cost in...

Background: Malnutrition has been among the most common public health problems in the world, especially in developing countries including Ethiopia. Even though the Ethiopian government launched stabilization centers in different hospitals, there are limited data on how long children will stay in treatment centers to recover from severe acute malnu...

Purpose Hemodialysis is a renal replacement therapy for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who consume substantial healthcare resources, which increases the economic burden. Plenty of factors affects the cost of hemodialysis treatment, particularly in resource-limited settings. Moreover, the demand for hemodialysis may decrease as the cost inc...

Background: Unintended pregnancy remains an important public health problem among teenagers and women in developing countries. Modern family planning methods, particularly Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs), are highly effective in addressing the problem and its undesirable outcomes in maternal mortality. But dissatisfaction with contrac...

Background: Quality of care depends on system, facility, provider, and client-level factors. We aimed at examining structural and process quality of services for sick children and its association with client satisfaction at health facilities in Ethiopia. Methods: Data from the Ethiopia Service Provision Assessment Plus (SPA+) survey 2014 were us...

Background: Fatigue is one of the most common bothersome HIV-related morbidity. The HIV prevalence in Ethiopia is heterogeneous by sex, geographic areas, and population groups. In Ethiopia, there is a need to estimate the burden of fatigue among HIV/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) adults to gain regional insight into this disabling sympt...

Background: Studies on the feeding practice of children, including meal frequency and dietary diversity are scarce among children. Therefore, this study aimed to assess dietary diversity and meal frequency and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months at Dabat Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site, northwest Ethiopia. Meth...

Objective The study aimed to assess and compare the prevalence of caesarean birth and associated factors among women gave birth at public and private health facilities in Bahir Dar city, Amhara region, Ethiopia. Methods An institution-based comparative cross-sectional study design was conducted from March1-April 15, 2019 at health facility provide...

Introduction Evidences show that intervention packages at home-community setting are found to reduce neonatal mortality significantly. But millions of neonates are still dying by preventable causes with the implementation of these effective interventions. This might be due to evidence-practice gap. Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the inter...

Background: Studies show home and community-based implementation of intervention packages have significantly reduced neonatal mortality particularly in resource constrained settings. However, due to evidence-practice gap, thousands of neonates are still losing their lives every day mostly from preventable causes. This study aimed to assess focused...

Background: Rendering focused antenatal care activities are directed at sustaining the maternal health and improving the fetal wellbeing to ensure the delivery of a live healthy neonate. Failure to implement focused antenatal care package can results in inability to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, perinatal death and stillbirt...

Background: Focused antenatal care activities are directed at sustaining maternal health and improving fetal wellbeing to ensure birth of a live healthy neonate. Failure to implement focused antenatal care can result in inability to reduce maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in low income countries. Due to evidence-practice gaps, however...