The Status of the Education Sector Development Program /ESDP I: 1997/98 - 2002/ of Ethiopia

This study was aimed to assess the status of ESDP I of Ethiopia. To achieve the objective, Evaluative research was considered, and the researcher has developed three basic research questions. Documents such as ESDPs, reports of MoE, other related research findings, and higher officials of MoE and ESDP were taken as population of the study. Of these, by considering their importance, some documents were selected purposively, and the higher officials were also included in the study via snow ball sampling technique. Document analysis and semi-structured interview were used as data collection instruments. And the required data was collected, and analyzed qualitatively. The finding of the analysis indicated how the quality of instructional process neglected in the expense of achieving the universal primary education by 2015.  This means, based on obtained reports, imbalance was observed between supply and demand aspects of the program. In addition to this, lack of awareness of the society towards the program, shortages of required resources, the occurred war between Ethiopia and Eretria etc. considered as faced challenges. Therefore, the MoE and Regional Education Bureaus have to have make a concerted effort and  have to take appropriate actions in order to solve the barriers and bottlenecks related to out-of-school children and enable the education system attain quality education by ESDP V. Keywords: Education Sector, Policy, Quality education, Statu

The Roles and Challenges of School Curriculum Committee in the Implementation and Improvement of Curriculum in the General Secondary Schools of Habru District North Wollo

The main objective of this study was to assess the roles played by school curriculum committee in the implementation and improvement of school curriculum in the General Secondary Schools of Habru District, North Wollo - Ethiopia. The subject of the study were 39 curriculum committee members, 67 teachers, a district curriculum expert, and a secondary schools’ supervisor that selected by comprehensive sampling, random sampling, and purposive sampling techniques respectively. To obtain data, questionnaire and interview were used as data gathering interments. Various statistical tools such as percentage, mean values, and grand mean scores were applied to analyze the obtained data from respondents. Accordingly, the respondents’ response revealed that the general secondary schools’ curriculum committee in Habru district has played its roles in implementing and improving school curriculum. It has facilitated staff development for teachers. The committee has also facilitated action research so as to improve classroom instruction. On the contrary, this committee also has showed its weakness in the area of curricular issue. The committee was unable to create a means of getting financial support for its budget allocation, and it was unable to suggest the existing school curriculum or it couldn’t make other groups to comment the school curriculum. Therefore, the school curriculum committee needs to be skilled and oriented about curricular issues by the concerned parties. School administration is expected to support this committee in terms of moral, finance, and stationary materials etc. Furthermore, the district education office in collaboration with zonal education department, or other groups should furnish the committee with adequate financial support. Keywords: Curriculum, Curriculum Committee, Implementation, Improvement, Challenge, Secondary Schoo

Initiatives of Ethiopian Government in Improving Females’ Participation in the General Secondary School Science Education

The study was aimed to evaluate the status of male and female students in their instructional practices, particularly in science education under the GSSs of North Wollo Zone. To achieve the objective, Evaluative research was used. Documents of grade 10 national examination results were taken as the research pool. Of these, by considering their recentness, the researcher was selected the four year’s (2013-2016) national exam result documents purposively. Accordingly, the required data was collected by using document analysis, and it was analyzed quantitatively by percentage, mean, Chi-Square test, and Standardize residual test.  Sex (male and female), and the two extreme grade levels (“A” and “F” scores) were used as units of analysis. The finding of the analysis indicated how females were poor academically than their counterparts. The variations which observed between male and female students in terms of passing in to preparatory school by considering all nine courses, in terms of scoring “A”, and scoring “F” in the three science subjects were 3.75%, 47.81%, and 12.76% respectively. This inequality is confirmed by the Chi-Square test analysis which shows that the calculated x2 value (1098.8) greater than the critical value of x2 (5.02). This verifies that male and female students have scored differently in the science national examinations. As a result, it is possible to say that female students were poor performer than males especially in the science subjects. Consequently, the researcher concluded as, although the FAWE’s GRP is regarded as an important strategy to achieve gender equality in the instructional process, GSS female students of North Wollo Zone did not perform academically as males in the national examinations. Therefore, teachers’ GRP practices of the zone need to be assessed and evaluated; MoE and Regional Education Bureaus, in collaboration with other stakeholders should make a concerted effort and should take appropriate actions in order to solve this inequality. The GSSs GRP practices have to be investigated; roles played by teachers, students, schools in general towards GRP also need to be evaluated. Keywords: General Secondary School; Gender, Initiative; Pedagogy; Science Educatio

The Alignment of Currently in Use Grade Seven English Language Textbook, and Teachers’ Perspective Amid Educational Policy of Ethiopia on Curriculum Balance of Bloom’s Taxonomy

The main objective of the study was to investigate the inclusion levels of domains and sub domains of Bloom in the English language text book of grade seven and the two exams of the same subject from Selam primary school of North Wollo. To achieve the intended purpose, grade seven English text books, two English language final exams of Selam primary school, and grade seven English language teachers of Selam School were used as the data source. Thus, grade 7 English language text book had 12 units, and of these, three units from the text book were selected by employing random sampling technique. All activities and exercises were incorporated in the study via comprehensive sampling. To collect data from these sources, the researcher used documents, interview, and checklist. Then, the required data was collected accordingly. To analyze, the researcher employed percentage and frequency that used to know inclusion level of the domains in the two documents final exams and text book. Chi-square test also employed to investigate significance difference situated in the domains and sub domains of Bloom between the two documents. The data which collected via semi-structured interview also elaborated and narrated by using words and phrases. The finding of data analysis pointed out that the two documents were highly focused on the lower level of cognitive domain (knowledge and comprehension) by omitting out the other sub domains in the same manner. In addition to this, the perception of English language teacher from Selam primary school inclined greatly towards knowledge level of the cognitive domain. To conclude, the two  documents in addition to perspective of the English language teacher over dominated by knowledge and comprehension levels of cognitive domain which let students to be restricted as passively received what classroom teacher told and sucking knowledge from the sources. The researcher would also recommended as educational policies of Ethiopia such as ESDP V and GTP II give emphasis about inclusion of Blooms taxonomy in balanced way. To do so, text book evaluation considered as one strategy. Therefore, it is important to: Evaluate grade seven English language text book and amend it to include the three domains of Bloom proportionally; text book developer bodies like Amhara regional education bureau need to consider these domains and sub domains of Bloom while developing text books; universities and  teacher education colleges are required to work by considering these domains in training program of English language teachers. Keywords: Alignment, Bloom, Curriculum, Evaluation, Policy, Textboo

Commission proposal on the temporary derogation from the e-Privacy Directive for the purpose of fighting online child sexual abuse:Targeted substitute impact assessment

On 10 September 2020, the European Commission presented a proposal (COM(2020) 568 final) on the temporary derogation from Articles 5(1) and 6 of the e-Privacy Directive, which protect the confidentiality of communications and traffic data. This proposal is targeted at ensuring the continuation of voluntary practices conducted by providers of ‘number-independent interpersonal communications services’ for the detection, reporting and removal of child sexual abuse material online after the European Electronic Communications Code has entered into force at the end of December 2020. The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) raised concerns over the proposal’s potential impact on the human and fundamental rights of the users of those services, and requested that the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) carry out a targeted impact assessment to this end, in the absence of a European Commission impact assessment accompanying this proposal. The assessment finds that while the EU has the competence to adopt the proposed regulation per Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union, the impact of such practices on human and fundamental rights has not been adequately addressed. It should provide a clear legal basis for these practices, along with effective remedies for users. Some technologies covered by the proposed regulation have a disproportionate impact, and thus require additional safeguards unavailable in the proposal in its current form

Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of E. coli

Aim. Foodborne illnesses represent a public health problem in developed and developing countries. They cause great suffering and are transmitted directly or indirectly between animals and humans and circulate in the global environment. E. coli are among them, causing a major public health problem. The aim of this study was therefore to study the antimicrobial resistance profile of E. coli from raw cow milk and fruit juice. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2016 to June 2017 on 258 samples collected from milk shops (n=86), dairy farms (n=86), and fruit juice (n=86) in different subcities of Mekelle. Bacteriological procedures were used for isolation of E. coli in the collected samples and for identification of the antimicrobial resistance profile. Result. The overall mean viable bacterial count and standard deviation of samples from milk shop, fruit juice, and dairy milk were found to be 8.86 ± 107, 7.2 ± 107, and 8.65 ± 107 CFU/ml and 33.87 ± 106, 6.68 ± 106, and 22.0 ± 106, respectively. Of the samples tested, 39 from milk shops (45.35%), 20 from fruit juice (23.26%), and 24 from dairy farms (27.91%) were found to be positive for E. coli. The isolated E. coli were highly resistant to ampicillin (70%), sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (60%), clindamycin (80%), erythromycin (60%), chloramphenicol (50%), and kanamycin (50%) and were found to be susceptible to some antibiotics like gentamicin (100%), norfloxacin (100%), tetracycline (60%), polymyxin B (90%), and ciprofloxacin (90%). Conclusion. The current study supports the finding that raw milk and fruit juice can be regarded as critical source of pathogenic E. coli. This supports the need for strict monitoring and the implementation of effective hygienic and biosecurity measures in the whole food chain of these products as well as a prudent use of antimicrobials

Effect of co-infection with intestinal parasites on COVID-19 severity: A prospective observational cohort study

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection results in a spectrum of clinical presentations. Evidence from Africa indicates that significantly less COVID-19 patients suffer from serious symptoms than in the industrialized world. We and others previously postulated a partial explanation for this phenomenon, being a different, more activated immune system due to parasite infections. Here, we aimed to test this hypothesis by investigating a potential correlation of co-infection with parasites with COVID-19 severity in an endemic area in Africa. Methods: Ethiopian COVID-19 patients were enrolled and screened for intestinal parasites, between July 2020 and March 2021. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with severe COVID-19. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between parasite infection, and COVID-19 severity. Models were adjusted for sex, age, residence, education level, occupation, body mass index, and comorbidities. Findings: 751 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients were enrolled, of whom 284 (37.8%) had intestinal parasitic infection. Only 27/255 (10.6%) severe COVID-19 patients were co-infected with intestinal parasites, while 257/496 (51.8%) non-severe COVID-19 patients were parasite positive (p<0.0001). Patients co-infected with parasites had lower odds of developing severe COVID-19, with an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 0.23 (95% CI 0.17–0.30; p<0.0001) for all parasites, aOR 0.37 ([95% CI 0.26–0.51]; p<0.0001) for protozoa, and aOR 0.26 ([95% CI 0.19–0.35]; p<0.0001) for helminths. When stratified by species, co-infection with Entamoeba spp., Hymenolepis nana, Schistosoma mansoni, and Trichuris trichiura implied lower probability of developing severe COVID-19. There were 11 deaths (1.5%), and all were among patients without parasites (p = 0.009). Interpretation: Parasite co-infection is associated with a reduced risk of severe COVID-19 in African patients. Parasite-driven immunomodulatory responses may mute hyper-inflammation associated with severe COVID-19. Funding: European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) – European Union, and Joep Lange Institute (JLI), The Netherlands

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017) includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. Methods: We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting. Findings: Globally, for females, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and haemoglobinopathies and haemolytic anaemias in both 1990 and 2017. For males, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and tuberculosis including latent tuberculosis infection in both 1990 and 2017. In terms of YLDs, low back pain, headache disorders, and dietary iron deficiency were the leading Level 3 causes of YLD counts in 1990, whereas low back pain, headache disorders, and depressive disorders were the leading causes in 2017 for both sexes combined. All-cause age-standardised YLD rates decreased by 3·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1–4·6) from 1990 to 2017; however, the all-age YLD rate increased by 7·2% (6·0–8·4) while the total sum of global YLDs increased from 562 million (421–723) to 853 million (642–1100). The increases for males and females were similar, with increases in all-age YLD rates of 7·9% (6·6–9·2) for males and 6·5% (5·4–7·7) for females. We found significant differences between males and females in terms of age-standardised prevalence estimates for multiple causes. The causes with the greatest relative differences between sexes in 2017 included substance use disorders (3018 cases [95% UI 2782–3252] per 100 000 in males vs s1400 [1279–1524] per 100 000 in females), transport injuries (3322 [3082–3583] vs 2336 [2154–2535]), and self-harm and interpersonal violence (3265 [2943–3630] vs 5643 [5057–6302]). Interpretation: Global all-cause age-standardised YLD rates have improved only slightly over a period spanning nearly three decades. However, the magnitude of the non-fatal disease burden has expanded globally, with increasing numbers of people who have a wide spectrum of conditions. A subset of conditions has remained globally pervasive since 1990, whereas other conditions have displayed more dynamic trends, with different ages, sexes, and geographies across the globe experiencing varying burdens and trends of health loss. This study emphasises how global improvements in premature mortality for select conditions have led to older populations with complex and potentially expensive diseases, yet also highlights global achievements in certain domains of disease and injury. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Measuring performance on the Healthcare Access and Quality Index for 195 countries and territories and selected subnational locations: A systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

Background: A key component of achieving universal health coverage is ensuring that all populations have access to quality health care. Examining where gains have occurred or progress has faltered across and within countries is crucial to guiding decisions and strategies for future improvement. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) to assess personal health-care access and quality with the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index for 195 countries and territories, as well as subnational locations in seven countries, from 1990 to 2016. Methods Drawing from established methods and updated estimates from GBD 2016, we used 32 causes from which death should not occur in the presence of effective care to approximate personal health-care access and quality by location and over time. To better isolate potential effects of personal health-care access and quality from underlying risk factor patterns, we risk-standardised cause-specific deaths due to non-cancers by location-year, replacing the local joint exposure of environmental and behavioural risks with the global level of exposure. Supported by the expansion of cancer registry data in GBD 2016, we used mortality-to-incidence ratios for cancers instead of risk-standardised death rates to provide a stronger signal of the effects of personal health care and access on cancer survival. We transformed each cause to a scale of 0-100, with 0 as the first percentile (worst) observed between 1990 and 2016, and 100 as the 99th percentile (best); we set these thresholds at the country level, and then applied them to subnational locations. We applied a principal components analysis to construct the HAQ Index using all scaled cause values, providing an overall score of 0-100 of personal health-care access and quality by location over time. We then compared HAQ Index levels and trends by quintiles on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary measure of overall development. As derived from the broader GBD study and other data sources, we examined relationships between national HAQ Index scores and potential correlates of performance, such as total health spending per capita. Findings In 2016, HAQ Index performance spanned from a high of 97\ub71 (95% UI 95\ub78-98\ub71) in Iceland, followed by 96\ub76 (94\ub79-97\ub79) in Norway and 96\ub71 (94\ub75-97\ub73) in the Netherlands, to values as low as 18\ub76 (13\ub71-24\ub74) in the Central African Republic, 19\ub70 (14\ub73-23\ub77) in Somalia, and 23\ub74 (20\ub72-26\ub78) in Guinea-Bissau. The pace of progress achieved between 1990 and 2016 varied, with markedly faster improvements occurring between 2000 and 2016 for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia, whereas several countries in Latin America and elsewhere saw progress stagnate after experiencing considerable advances in the HAQ Index between 1990 and 2000. Striking subnational disparities emerged in personal health-care access and quality, with China and India having particularly large gaps between locations with the highest and lowest scores in 2016. In China, performance ranged from 91\ub75 (89\ub71-93\ub76) in Beijing to 48\ub70 (43\ub74-53\ub72) in Tibet (a 43\ub75-point difference), while India saw a 30\ub78-point disparity, from 64\ub78 (59\ub76-68\ub78) in Goa to 34\ub70 (30\ub73-38\ub71) in Assam. Japan recorded the smallest range in subnational HAQ performance in 2016 (a 4\ub78-point difference), whereas differences between subnational locations with the highest and lowest HAQ Index values were more than two times as high for the USA and three times as high for England. State-level gaps in the HAQ Index in Mexico somewhat narrowed from 1990 to 2016 (from a 20\ub79-point to 17\ub70-point difference), whereas in Brazil, disparities slightly increased across states during this time (a 17\ub72-point to 20\ub74-point difference). Performance on the HAQ Index showed strong linkages to overall development, with high and high-middle SDI countries generally having higher scores and faster gains for non-communicable diseases. Nonetheless, countries across the development spectrum saw substantial gains in some key health service areas from 2000 to 2016, most notably vaccine-preventable diseases. Overall, national performance on the HAQ Index was positively associated with higher levels of total health spending per capita, as well as health systems inputs, but these relationships were quite heterogeneous, particularly among low-to-middle SDI countries. Interpretation GBD 2016 provides a more detailed understanding of past success and current challenges in improving personal health-care access and quality worldwide. Despite substantial gains since 2000, many low-SDI and middle- SDI countries face considerable challenges unless heightened policy action and investments focus on advancing access to and quality of health care across key health services, especially non-communicable diseases. Stagnating or minimal improvements experienced by several low-middle to high-middle SDI countries could reflect the complexities of re-orienting both primary and secondary health-care services beyond the more limited foci of the Millennium Development Goals. Alongside initiatives to strengthen public health programmes, the pursuit of universal health coverage hinges upon improving both access and quality worldwide, and thus requires adopting a more comprehensive view-and subsequent provision-of quality health care for all populations