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Background. The health care industry is undergoing a rapid transformation to meet the ever-increasing needs and demands of its patient population. Level of patients’ satisfaction is an important health outcome, which is regarded as a determinant measure for quality of care. This study was performed with the aim of assessing the level of patient satisfaction with inpatient services and its determinants in Black Lion Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods. A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from November 25th to December 20th, 2015, using 398 randomly selected patients. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Jimma University research review board, and verbal consent was also received from the study participants during data collection time. A pretested structured interview questionnaire was used to collect data from study participants. The collected data were handled by using SPSS statistical software. Before analysis, relevant explanatory variables were identified using factor analysis with varimax rotation, and bivariate analysis was carried out using linear regression for every independent variable with the outcome variable independently. Explanatory variables scoring p value Results. A total of 398 patients were participated in the study, yielding a response rate of 100%. A total of 46.2% (95% CI: 41.2%–51.1%) patients were satisfied by the services they received in the hospital. Patient and health care provider interaction and general facility amenity-related domains were found to explain 96.4% of the variability in the net overall satisfaction score. Good quality services provided by hospital physicians, availability of laboratory and radiology services, pain management services, and inpatient pharmacy services of the hospital had positive influences. Besides toilet cleanliness, availability of rooms for accommodation and dietary service had significant relation with level of patient satisfaction. Quality of the inpatient pharmacy service had a great influence on satisfaction; a unit increase in it resulted in 2.3 (95% CI: 2.1–2.5) times increment in patient satisfaction level at p≤0.001. For final predictors, regression estimates for level of satisfaction moved from very dissatisfied to very satisfied when service improves by a unit. Conclusion. Overall patients’ satisfaction is lower than other studies in the nation. A great opportunity is there to improve patient’s satisfaction level if the service quality is improved around the time of patient and health care provider interaction and facility amenity services. Besides, improving the health literacy of service providers and devising a strategy to routinely assess satisfaction level of patients in the facility is critical. On top of this, providing tailored on-the-job training for health care workers in the facility is a crucial step in order to improve their knowledge and skills to render patient-centered quality service to improve their patients’ satisfaction. Using a checklist during service delivery may improve client patient interaction and ensure the standard. Facility design dimension can be considered for future research activities.

Background. Cholera is a major public health problem in Ethiopia. This study aimed to generate evidence to better understand the epidemiology of cholera as well as chronicle the city administration’s emergency management efforts during the Addis Ababa cholera outbreak in 2016. Method. A descriptive analysis was performed using the cholera outbreak data collected from June 8 to October 31, 2016. A case was defined as a patient aged 5 years or older who develops acute watery diarrhea with or without vomiting. Administrative and laboratory finding reports were also used, as well as documented situational updates. Result. A total of 8,083 cases (AR of 0.24 percent) with 15 deaths (CFR of 0.18 percent) were reported. Males in unskilled manual occupations and housewives accounted for 2,198 (27.2%) and 1,195 (14.8%), respectively, of the total. A total of 6,908 cases (85.46 percent) sought medical attention within two days of the onset of the condition. The presence of the Kolfie river as well as the relatively confined living conditions of the residents aided in the emergence and rapid spread of the disease. The increased in-and-out movement of people, combined with the city administration’s deficient development infrastructure of water, hygiene, and sanitation, contributes to higher morbidity and a longer duration of the outbreak. Multiple command posts established in various locations as well as a lack of collaboration among relevant stakeholders resulted in inefficient information and resource management. Furthermore, there is a lack of risk factor surveillance for the early detection of cholera-causing agents. Conclusion and Recommendations. This outbreak caused significant morbidity and mortality. Prioritizing early risk detection, implementing preventive measures, and developing positive working relationships with relevant parties are all critical. A well-established community-based surveillance system and incident management system (IMS) will be required for future emergency management. It is recommended that the city administration make critical adjustments to its developmental infrastructures related to water, sanitation, and hygiene and implement risk factor surveillance from sewerage lines for the early detection of agents that cause cholera.

Background The influenza virus spreads rapidly around the world in seasonal epidemics, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Influenza-related incidence data are limited in many countries in Africa despite established sentinel surveillance. This study aimed to address the information gap by estimating the burden and seasonality of medically attended influenza like illness in Ethiopia. Method Influenza sentinel surveillance data collected from 3 influenza like illness (ILI) and 5 Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) sites from 2012 to 2017 was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics were applied for simple analysis. The proportion of medically attended influenza positive cases and incidence rate of ILI was determined using total admitted patients and catchment area population. Seasonality was estimated based on weekly trend of ILI and predicted threshold was done by applying the “Moving Epidemic Method (MEM)”. Result A total of 5715 medically attended influenza suspected patients who fulfills ILI and SARI case definition (77% ILI and 23% SARI) was enrolled. Laboratory confirmed influenza virus (influenza positive case) among ILI and SARI suspected case was 25% (1130/4426) and 3% (36/1289). Of which, 65% were influenza type A. The predominantly circulating influenza subtype were seasonal influenza A(H3N2) (n = 455, 60%) and Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (n = 293, 38.81%). The estimated mean annual influenza positive case proportion and ILI incidence rate was 160.04 and 52.48 per 100,000 population. The Incidence rate of ILI was higher in the age group of 15–44 years of age [‘Incidence rate (R) = 254.6 per 100,000 population’, 95% CI; 173.65, 335.55] and 5–14 years of age [R = 49.5, CI 95%; 31.47, 130.43]. The seasonality of influenza has two peak seasons; in a period from October–December and from April–June. Conclusion Significant morbidity of influenza like illness was observed with two peak seasons of the year and seasonal influenza A (H3N2) remains the predominantly circulating influenza subtype. Further study need to be considered to identify potential risks and improving the surveillance system to continue early detection and monitoring of circulating influenza virus in the country has paramount importance.

Introduction Suspected cholera cases were reported to the city administration health bureau in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia on June 5, 2016 and it was laboratory confirmed by culture on 7 June 2016. The outbreak was declared by the government on June 8, 2016. The aim of this study was to rapidly investigate the outbreak epidemiologically and guide response activities in the affected Sub cities of Addis Ababa city administration. Methods An unmatched 1:2 case-control study was conducted in six selected sub-cities of the city administration. Different laboratory tests were also done from suspected possible risk factors identified to support the epidemiological findings. A case was a patient greater than 5 years old, who developed acute watery diarrhea with or without Vomiting. Control was an individual greater than 5 years' old who stayed in the same township and did not suffer from cholera. A structured questionnaire was used to select cases and controls. Epi InfoTM statistical software was used to analyze the data. Results were presented in narratives, figures and tables. Results The present study found that, the study participants who used street-vended water (Odds Ratio (OR)=10.4; 95% CI: 1.20-90.9), those who reported holy water sources use (OR=2.7, 95% CI: 1.45-5.04), eating raw meat (OR=7.75; 95% CI: 3.86-15.54) or roasted meat (OR=2.16; 95% CI: 1.19-3.93) and vegetable salad (OR=2.07; 95% CI: 1.14-3.76) were associated with contracting cholera infection. The likelihood of contracting cholera was significantly higher among those who ate food from street vendor sources (OR=5.32; 95% CI: 1.82-15.56) and those who practiced open defecation (OR=8.12; 95% CI (2.20-29.81). Having a latrine (OR=0.29; 95% CI: 0.12-0.69) and proper hand hygiene practice (OR=0.22; 95% CI: 0.14-0.38) were found to be protective against cholera infection. Conclusion Improving awareness of the community by intensifying social mobilization activities through community participation in proper hygienic practice, proper waste disposal and latrine facility construction and utilization. Provision of safe water for the community by strictly conducting end-point assessment of water points and conducting a KAP assessment among food handlers to explore their knowledge and practices regarding safe food/drink handling and water treatment as well as initiate appropriate PH actions based on the findings which will be necessary for prevention of similar cholera outbreaks in the future.

Background: The avian influenza virus has different subtypes which have the potential to cause disease in animals and humans. Human cases with influenza A (H5N1), A (H5N6) and A (H7N9) viruses, have been reported to WHO and various influenza A (H5) subtypes continue to be detected in birds globally. Little is known about the types of exposure that result in human infections. In Ethiopia, risk assessment studies were not conducted and the awareness of the community and the risk of exposure for potential avian influenza is undetermined. The aim off this survey is to assess the level of the community awareness and the risk for human exposure to avian influenza viruses (HPAI) in the wet land areas of Ethiopia. Method: The survey was conducted from January 26 to February 28, 2018 in the wet land areas of Ethiopia by using a standard questionnaire and purposive random sampling method. Epi info version 7.0 and SPSS (V.20) were applied for data analysis. Result: Off the total 200 respondents 94.7% don’t know about the mode of transmission and 43.5%, 27%, 16.9% of the respondents believed that HAI it transmitted by inhalation of air droplet (breathing), contact with ill person and eating raw poultry meat and egg products. 36.2% of respondents believed that Human avian influenza is preventable by keeping hand hygiene, followed by respiratory hygiene (28%) and environmental hygiene (19.3%). However, 68.6% had close contact with animals (poultry) and high exposure to raw animal products. Conclusion: The awareness level of the community in the mode of transmission, risk factors and preventive measures is very low while the exposure for infected birds, food products remaining high. Further risk assessment studies and community awareness creation on the prevention and control of highly pathogenic avian influenza is recommended. Key words: Avian Influenza, Exposure, Ethiopia