Tewodros Alemayehu’s research while affiliated with Save the Children and other places

Background: Worldwide, adolescents suffer from a disproportionate share of reproductive health problem. Throughout the world, over 14 million adolescents aged 15-19 years give birth annually. The purpose of this study was to assess the level and identify proximate and other determinants of adolescent fertility in Ethiopia. Methods: Raw data collected from all part of the country using stratified cluster sampling method by the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey 2005 (EDHS-2005) was used. After the data for adolescents aged from 15 to 19 years were extracted from the large data set, Multivariate logistic regression model was applied to identify socio-demographic and economic determinants whereas Bongaarts model was used to determine proximate determinants fertility. Results: Of the 3,266 adolescent women, 443 (13.6%) had given birth at least once prior to the survey and 133 (4.1%) were pregnant. Of the 443 adolescents who had at least given birth, the majority (72.7%) had one child while about a quarter (23.2%) had 2 live births and the rest 1.0% gave four live births with a mean number of child ever born of 1.33±0.6. The major factors associated with adolescent fertility were age, educational status, place of residence, employment, marriage, contraceptive use and postpartum infecundability. The odds for increased adolescent fertility was significantly higher in early adolescents (AOR=7.6; 95% CI=6.0 to 9.9), had lower education (AOR=6.7; 95%CI=4.1 to10.9), among rural teens (AOR=3.6; 95%CI=1.9 to 6.9) and currently not working (AOR=1.7; 95%CI= 1.3 to 2.2) than their counterparts. The observed fertility rate of 0.52 children per woman obtained from Bongaarts model of fertility indicated about 1.98 births per woman were averted due to non-marriage, delayed marriage, contraceptive use and postpartum infecundability. Conclusion: Since adolescent fertility is felt to be a problem, concerted efforts are needed to empower adolescents to fight early marriage, promote education and encourage the utilization of family planning targeting the rural teenagers. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2010;24(1):30-38] Introduction Adolescence is a transitional period from childhood to adulthood characterized by significant physiological, psychological and social changes. World Health Organization defines the age group of 10-19 and 15-24 years of age as adolescents and youth respectively. Those segment of population aged from 10-24 years are labeled as young people (1). Worldwide, adolescents suffer from a disproportionate share of early marriage, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS, female genital mutilation, malnutrition and anemia, infertility, sexual and gender based violence, and other serious reproductive health problems (2). Adolescent fertility also known as teenage fertility refers to a condition where woman has given live birth before the age of 20 years. Teenage fertility rate is calculated as the proportion of women aged 15-19 who have ever given live birth by the time of interview (3). The average fertility rate among teenagers in the least developed countries is five times greater than that of the more developed regions. On average, one third of young women in developing countries give birth before age of 20 years. According to UNFPA report, each year, an estimated 14 million adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 give

Adolescence is the most important period of life where growth and development are accompanied by various physical, physiological, behavioral, and social changes leading to increased demand for nutrients which could pose a greater risk of malnutrition. To assess the magnitude of adolescents' undernutrition and its determinants in public schools of Ambo town. A cross-sectional study design with analytical component was conducted between March 20 and April 10, 2008. A total of 425 in-school adolescents were assessed for their nutritional status. Weight, height and other important socio-demographic and dietary information were taken using pre-tested questionnaire. Body Mass Index (BMI) was computed and compared to the reference standards. The overall prevalence of underweight and overweight was 27.5% and 4.3% respectively. The proportion of underweight was higher in males (29.8%) than females (24.6%) while overweight were higher in females (4.9%) than males (3.8%). However, the difference noted was not significant (P = 0.4). Underweight was significantly higher in early (38.1%) than late (18.6%) adolescent (p = 0.001). The most important predictors identified for underweight were adolescent's age, menarche onset, food source for consumption and family possession of cattle (p < 0.05). Underweight in the in-school adolescents is prevalent. To help adolescents build better futures with more civic education and life skills, an integrated nutrition and health related services that meet the needs of adolescents in the school community is recommended.

Background: Teenaged women suffer from a disproportionate share of reproductive health problem. The purpose of this study was to estimate the utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services among teenagers (13-19 years) during delivery in Ethiopia. Methodology: Raw data collected from all part of the country on child bearing aged women using stratified cluster sampling method by the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey 2005 was used. From the large dataset of women, a total of 994 teenage women at the time of their most recent childbirth five years prior to the survey was selected and analyzed. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the differentials of ANC by explanatory variables. Result: Most (60%) of the subjects were in the age group between 18 and 19 years. The vast majority (90%) was from the rural settings and most (87%) were in marital union. Almost three out of four (72.4%) of those who had given birth has no any form of formal education. Over a quarter (27.3%) of most recent childbirths had at least one ANC service, of this, 21% had started their first antenatal visit in the first trimester of pregnancy. The majority (80.4%) of the women who attended ANC delivered at home without being assisted. The major deriving factors for the utilization of ANC service were education level of women and their male partners, better wealth index and urban residence. Conclusion: Education of partners, rich wealth index and urban residence seemed to encourage teenagers to utilize ANC. Appropriate interventions targeting teenaged women with poor socioeconomic status is recommended with more emphasis on the rural underserved segment of population.

Background: Despite the demonstrated benefits of breast milk, the prevalence of breastfeeding, in-particular exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), in many developing countries including Ethiopia is lower than the international recommendation of EBF for the first six months of life Objective: To assess the practice of EBF and explore its determinants in Ethiopia and provide policy makers and NGOs with relevant information for future planning and interventions. Methods: Raw data collected from nine regions and two city administrations using stratified cluster sampling method by the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS) 2005 were used to study the practice and determinants of EBF countrywide. Analysis was based on children whose age was less than six months and alive at the time of interview that was extracted from the women's database. Results: The overall rates of exclusive and full breastfeeding were 49.0% and 68.2% respectively. Maternal education, marital status, wealth index and age of the child were closely associated with EBF practices, nonetheless, in the hierarchical analysis; being not married, middle/richer/richest wealth index, and child age 0-1 and 2-3 month were retained as the predictors of EBF (P < 0.05). Conclusion: A range of maternal and child health attributes such as marital status, economical status and child age were found to influence the practice of EBF in Ethiopia. Actions to empower women and promotion of EBF campaign are recommended to achieve the fourth millennium development goal. [Ethiop.J.Health Dev. 2009;23(1):12-18]