Mental health services in Ethiopia: emerging public health

Summary: Objectives: Examine the mental health issues in Ethiopia in relation to services offered in this direction. Study Design: Retrospective. Methods: Results of the 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey and other secondary data sources were explore dimensions of to understand the mental health issues. Results: The average prevalence of mental disorders in Ethiopia was 18 % for adults and 15% for children. People are now more than ever aware of the importance of mental health. Families now do not need much agitation to seek medical help for their mentally ill members. Unfortunately, the mental health services are available only in Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia. By consequence, a large number of the adolescent is homeless, and lives on the street. Low status of women in Ethiopia underpins and often directly undermines utilization of reproductive health services. Even though, the policy makers or research managers are giving more importance to the reproductive health issues. But, mental health services are emerging issues which determines the development goals of the country. Conclusion: A critical requirement for the mental health promotion is to have information, increase mental health services, trained skilled workers, education and self-confidence to access available services. The key policy rapid actions needed.IS

Is South Africa on Track with the 2015 Millennium Development Goals?

Background According to the Millennium Development Goals MDGs agreement each country which forms part of it has to provide a report periodically that will show the progress on their achievement towards the goals This article aim is to evaluate South Africa s prospects of achieving eight MDGs by 2015 Methods this article is an analysis of the current situation of South Africa and the aim of this analysis is to look beyond the statistical values to see if the achievements are on track or life-time achievements and also if what is yet to be achieved can really be achieved Different data were used as secondary information Results There are eight MDGs to be achieved by 2015 such as eradicating extreme poverty achieving universal primary education promoting gender equality and the women empowerment reducing infant and child mortality improving maternal health fight with HIV AIDS Tuberculosis and other diseases ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for national development A country development is dependent on many factors therefore different countries across the world have adopted the MDGs as means of alleviating many of the social ills hindering progress and development This paper will focus on a glance with entire MDGs Based on different sources South Africa is on track with the MDG there is no doubt South Africa crucialto work hard with complete MDGs Conclusion It was argued that there has been progress made which has resulted in significant changes to people s lives but the question that has to be asked is for how long can these achievements last Serious requirements for reducing the rate of maternal mortality and HIV AIDS in South Africa are needed South Africa may still be considered to be on track to achieve the MDGs target by within couple of years if the above mentioned issues are taken into consideratio

Son preference and contraceptive practice among tribal groups in rural South India

This paper examines the son preference and contraceptive practice among tribal groups in rural south India. Parents’ preferences for the sex of their children have constituted an important theme in population and social research over the past three decades. Data were collected from a household survey of 398 currently married women of reproductive age group (15-49) from four taluks in the Nilgiris District of rural Tamilnadu are selected with respect to the different tribal communities. Cross tabulation and logistic regression analysis was carried out for finding out relationships between the socio-economic, demographic variables on contraceptive practice. The use of contraceptive practice by tribal groups in rural areas is strongly linked to individual and household socio-economic and demographic variables. Findings shows that the expectation that a son will provide financial support in old age is strongly associated with the response that a son is important. Son preference is slightly more among the tribal women, particularly among the users of spacing method who are more among those preferring the sons. Some of the socio-economic variables like education of husband and occupation have shown negative influence on higher fertility and positive influence on contraceptive use among the tribal women. It is proposed that there is need for more comprehensive on tribes in different areas in state and in the Indian nation to explicitly bring out the son preference attitudes of tribal people, which have an impact on their fertility and family planning practices.International Bibliography of Social Science

Correlates of antenatal and postnatal care among tribal women in India

It is well established that those women who undergo full antenatal care check-up and give birth in a medical institution or whose delivery is attended by trained paramedical persons promotes child survival and reduces maternal mortality. In the light of the above, an attempt is made in this paper to relate the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the currently married Schedule Tribes’ women in eight districts of Chhatisgarh with factors associated with antenatal and postnatal care. Data for this study were taken from District Level Household Survey on Reproductive and Child Health (DLHSRCH 2002), a representative sample of 1569 Scheduled Tribes’ currently married women aged 15-44, residing in eight districts of Chhatisgarh. Adjusted effects (odds ratios) analysis has been used to find out the effects of antenatal and post-natal care on institutional delivery in Chhatisgarh. It is observed that majority of the Scheduled Tribes’ women, about 84 percent, have a low standard of living. Also, 74 per cent of the Scheduled Tribes’ women are illiterate. The finding of the adjusted effects (odds ratio) shows that giving birth in the medical institution for the Scheduled Tribes’ women who received full antenatal check up is 2.5 times higher than those women who did not receive any antenatal check-up. It suggests that majority of the currently married Scheduled Tribe women have low standard of living there is a need to improve their economic standard so that they can fulfill their basic needs.Web of Scienc

Child mortality rate in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s childhood mortality has continued to decline although at a swift pace. The drop in urban childhood mortality decline, duration of breastfeeding is the principle reason for the overall decline in mortality trends in Ethiopia. Data from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys 2000 and 2005 were used. Indirect estimation of Brass and Trussell’s methods were adopted. Selected demographic and socio-economic variables were included in the analysis with statistically significant effects. Findings clearly show neonatal and post neonatal mortality decline gradually. Even though, Ethiopia’s childhood mortality rates are still high. The result shows less than 2 years birth interval have higher infant mortality rates than higher birth interval (113 deaths per 1000). The proper spacing of births allows more time for childcare to make more maternal resources available for the care of the child and mother. Therefore, further research is urgent for regional level and national level investigation.Web of Scienc

Under-5 Mortality in Tanzania: a demographic scenario

Background: The government of the United Republic of Tanzania has initiated the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness program to improve the health and wellbeing of children. Methods: Tanzania’s under-five mortality rate is still 1.7 times higher than the world average and, in order to achieve its Millennium Development Goal 4 target, its annual reduction rate is quite low at 2.2. The main aim of the study is to examine under-five mortality combined with the Data from the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2008 data was used. Odds ratios for infant and under-five mortality were estimated using logistic regression; crude and adjusting models were adopted. Results: Mortality cases (18.3%) have been reported to children born with an interval of <24 months. Mothers with no education reported 14.6%, primary education mothers reported 11.1% and higher education reported only 5.3% (P<0.001). Therefore, maternal education plays is a major role on fertility and infant and under-five mortality behavior. Conclusion: Maternal education also influences a mother’s behavior in her usage of available health services to improve the health of the children. Further in-depth analysis is immensely needed in this situation.Web of Scienc

Is millennium development goal 4 achievable in Tanzania?

Introduction: This paper will focus on MDG4, which is concerned with reducing child mortality. Childhood mortality rates are the leading indicator of the level of child health and overall development of a country; and MDG4 aims to reduce the childhood mortality rate by two-thirds by 2015. The target is to reduce the number of children dying before 5 years of age from 93 per 1000 in 1990 to 31 per 1000 in 2015. Thus, MDG4 aims to reduce under-five mortality rates and infant mortality rates, which could be achieved by increasing the proportion of 12-month-old children who are immunized against measles, BCG, DPT, etc.Web of Scienc

Improving maternal and reproductive health in Ethiopia

This study aimed to examine the relationship between maternal health and good quality of life in an attempt to understand the years between 2005 and 2011. Data from the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Surveys 2005 and 2011 were used. Bivariate, Camer-V, chi-square and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relative contribution of the predictor variables. The hypotheses tested in this study were that gender, wealth quintile, type of place of residence and region are highly significant with women’s education and work status. Females’ expected age (adjusted odds ratio = AOR) for some school training has dropped in 2011 from 0.678 to 0.255 for the age group 25–34, but male expected age (AOR) for some school has increased in 2011 from 0.784 to 2.274. The age of the respondent, age at first cohabitation and socio-economic variables were positively associated with having visited health facilities in the last 12 months and being visited by a family planning worker.IS

Maternal mortality in Burkina Faso: a method from population census 2006

Background: Estimating maternal mortality level is constantly challenging researchers and planners both in rich and poor countries. In developing countries, particularly in Burkina Faso where the registration system is not working properly, censuses and surveys are the main providers of maternal mortality estimates. However, censuses provide more reliable data about maternal mortality especially at sub-national level. Strength of this situation, the census 2006 of Burkina Faso collected information about maternal mortality. Unfortunately, the census also under reported the phenomenon. In this regard, a methodology was developed to provide adjusted estimates of the phenomenon. Methods: This paper aims to assess the census 2006 estimates of maternal mortality through a critical review of the questionnaire, data quality, adjustment technique and outputs. Incoherencies, duplicated cases and missing data were the key aspects of the data quality assessment. The assumptions and outputs of the method were examined and comparison made with existent estimates. Results: Findings highlighted weaknesses regarding the assumptions of the method and showed that the levels of the phenomenon were still under-estimated. In this research, propositions have been made concerning data cleaning, situations of adjustment coefficients less than 1 and the problem of weak assumptions. Findings led to a MMRatio of 331 [293-402] maternal deaths per 100 000 live births. Conclusion: The level of maternal mortality as published in the census 2006 report (MMRatio of 307) is acceptable because falling in the range 293-402. However, the questionnaire, data and method used needed improvements.Web of Scienc

Trends and risk factors for childhood diarrhea in sub-Saharan countries (1990 2013): assessing the neighborhood inequalities

BACKGROUND: Diarrheal diseases are a major cause of child mortality and one of the main causes of medical consultation for children in sub-Saharan countries. This paper attempts to determine the risk factors and neighborhood inequalities of diarrheal morbidity among under-5 children in selected countries in sub- Saharan Africa over the period 1990 2013. DESIGN: Data used come from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) waves conducted in Burkina Faso (1992 93, 1998 99, 2003, and 2010), Mali (1995, 2001, 2016, and 2012), Nigeria (1990, 1999, 2003, 2008, and 2013), and Niger (1992, 1998, 2006, and 2012). Bivariate analysis was performed to assess the association between the dependent variable and each of the independent variables. Multilevel logistic regression modelling was used to determine the fixed and random effects of the risk factors associated with diarrheal morbidity. RESULTS: The findings showed that the proportion of diarrheal morbidity among under-5 children varied considerably across the cohorts of birth from 10 to 35%. There were large variations in the proportion of diarrheal morbidity across countries. The proportions of diarrheal morbidity were higher in Niger compared with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Nigeria. The risk factors of diarrheal morbidity varied from one country to another, but the main factors included the child's age, size of the child at birth, the quality of the main floor material, mother's education and her occupation, type of toilet, and place of residence. The analysis shows an increasing trend of diarrheal inequalities according to DHS rounds. In Burkina Faso, the value of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.04 for 1993 DHS and 0.09 in 2010 DHS; in Mali, the ICC increased from 0.04 in 1995 to 0.16 in 2012; in Nigeria, the ICC increased from 0.13 in 1990 to 0.19 in 2013; and in Niger, the ICC increased from 0.07 in 1992 to 0.11 in 2012.IS