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Background: Viral load monitoring is used as an important biomarker for diagnosing treatment failure in patients with HIV infection/AIDS. Ethiopia has started targeted viral load monitoring. However, factors leading to virological failure are not well understood and studied. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the determinants of virological failure among HIV-infected patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy at the University of Gondar Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A case-control study was conducted from May to June 2015. Cases were subjects who had already experienced virological failure; controls were those without virological failure. Data were extracted from 153 cases and 153 controls through chart review. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with virological failure, and variables with a p-value <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: In this study, higher odds of virological failure was observed among patients aged <35 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =2.52, 95% CI: 1.33, 4.77), who had had CD4+ count <200 cells/mm3 (AOR=9.03, 95% CI: 4.40, 18.50), showed poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) (AOR=15.80, 95% CI: 6.90, 36.50), and had taken ART for longer durations of 25-47 months (AOR=3.00, 95% CI: 1.10, 8.40) and ≥48 months (AOR=6.70, 95% CI: 2.70, 16.60). Conclusion: This study showed that patients aged <35 years and with recent low CD4 count, poor adherence to treatment, and longer exposure to ART were positively and significantly associated with virological treatment failure. Therefore, evidence-based intervention should be implemented to improve adherence to ART, which in turn helps to boost immunity (CD4) and suppresses viral replication and load. Moreover, attention should be given to younger patients who have had ART for longer periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: TB (tuberculosis) is an infectious disease affecting millions of people worldwide; globally, an estimated 10 million people developed TB disease in the past two years; and there were an estimated 1.4 million TB deaths. In Ethiopia, the burden of TB is ranked third and seventh in Africa and the world, respectively. Hence, studies are limited to solving many of the problems related to undernutrition. Therefore this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of undernutrition among adult TB patients attending Amhara National Regional State hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the TB clinics of Amhara Regional State Referral hospitals from March to April 2020. A total of 405 TB patients participated in the study. Proportional allocation and Systematic random sampling were employed to get representative study participants. The outcome variable, undernutrition, was determined by using Body Mass Index (BMI). Interviewer administered structured questionnaire, anthropometric measurements and patients' document review were done. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions were done to identify factors associated with undernutrition. Crude odds ratios (COR) and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals and P-values < 0.05 were employed to declare the significance and strength of association., Results: The prevalence of under nutrition was 42.2% [95%CI: 32.8, 51.6]. The mean (±SD) BMI was 19.30(±2.83). The odds of undernutrition was higher among TB patients with poor wealth status [AOR = 2.39, 95%CI; 1.19, 4.79], alcohol consumption [AOR = 1.57; 95%CI, 1.01, 2.47], bedridden [AOR = 3.02, 95%CI; 1.21, 7.50] and ambulatory patient [AOR = 2.11, 95%CI; 1.36, 3.26]. Furthermore, being farmer [AOR = 2.59;95%CI,1.08,6.20], housewife [AOR = 2.72;95%CI,1.22,6.06] and unemployed [AOR = 2.46;95%CI,1.18,5.13] were significantly associated with undernutrition., Conclusion and Recommendations: This study illustrated that a considerably high proportion of TB patients were undernourished in Amhara regionals state referral hospitals. Behavioral and socio-economic characteristics were significantly associated with undernutrition. Therefore, nutritional and social support activities are essential for TB patients, particularly those who are socio-economically disadvantaged. Regular nutritional screening and management, as well as behavioral interventions, should be strengthened., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Many people, especially in developing countries such as Ethiopia, are migrating to cities. The majority of these people have settled in slum areas, which often have poor sanitation and housing conditions. Therefore, this study was conducted to gather evidence on nutritional status and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months living in slum areas of Gondar city, northwest Ethiopia., Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from 3 to 28 May 2017. A total of 593 children from the slum areas aged 6-59 months were included in the study. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify the independent determinants of stunting and wasting., Results: The overall prevalences of stunting and wasting were 42.3% (95% CI 38.34, 46.3%) and 7.3% (95% CI 5.3, 9.4%), respectively. Poor wealth status (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] =1.79; 95% CI 1.19, 2.70) and age of child 24-35 months (AOR=2.56; 95% CI 1.32, 4.96), 36-47 months (AOR=2.27; 95% CI 1.14, 4.54) and 48-59 months (AOR=2.69; 95% CI 1.35, 5.32) were independently associated with stunting. Similarly, presence of a fever in the previous 2 weeks (AOR=2.29; 95% CI 1.20, 4.38) and paternal control over resources (AOR=3.66; 95% CI 1.12, 11.04) were associated with wasting. Children of uneducated mothers (AOR=3.30; 95% CI 1.29, 8.46) were also more likely to be wasted., Conclusion: This study illustrates that undernutrition is prevalent in the slum areas of Gondar city and is a critical public health problem. Therefore, attention should be targeted at economically disadvantaged children living in slum areas. In addition, there is a need to improve medical awareness of families with young children in these areas and increase the health-seeking behavior of these families, primarily by focusing on maternal education. Increasing women's decision-making autonomy over household resources is also recommended to address the problem., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.