Growing apple (Malus domestica) under tropical mountain climate conditions in Northern Ethiopia

Lack of effective chilling during the dormant season is one of the major problems when apples are growing under a tropical climate. We evaluated the response of different apple cultivars (Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and Jonagold) grown on M9 rootstock with different dormancy-management practices. The trials were carried out between 2004 and 2006 in a tropical mountain area (Tigray, Ethiopia), where chilling conditions are poor with the aim of improving and synchronizing the bud break and the blossoming period of these apple cultivars. Two-year-old well-feathered trees were planted in two experimental trial sites in it randomized complete block design. Trees were subjected to the following treatments in two sets of experiments: one defoliation per year only; two defoliations per year, one defoliation followed by 1% hydrogen cyanamide (Dormex) treatment; one defoliation followed by 2% Dormex treatment; one defoliation followed by 40% winter oil; one defoliation followed by 0.5% Dormex and 2% winter oil; and a control with no defoliation or dormancy breaking treatments. The result show positive effects of the dormancy breaking agents oil the productivity of the trees after defoliation, with comparable results for the effectiveness of both Dormex and winter oil. There were On statistically significant differences between the Dormex closes. The defoliation treatment alone Was not sufficient to break dormancy for the cultivars Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Gala but showed promising results with dormancy breaking Jonagold. Yields increased as a result of better flowering time synchronization within a tree but even with the dormancy treatments the length of the flowering period was still spread over five weeks, where under it more temperate climate it lasted two to three weeks. The average fruit weight of Jonagold and Granny Smith can be considered as it good fruit quality while the fruit of other diploid cultivars like Golden, Gala and Fuji were rather small, which indicates chat fruit thinning by hand will be it necessity For these cultivars. Red colouration of the apples oil the cultivars Gala and Jonagold was excellent and meets the standards necessary for commercialization of these fruits. The sugar concentration of the fruits and the fruit firmness at harvest was high. The results of these first trials indicate that it is possible to develop new apple production in the mountain region of Tigray, Ethiopia

Patients’ satisfaction with clinical laboratory services in public hospitals in Ethiopia

CITATION: Hailu, H. A., et al. 2019. Patients’ satisfaction with clinical Laboratory Services in Public Hospitals in Ethiopia. BMC Health Services Research, 20:13, doi:10.1186/s12913-019-4880-9.The original publication is available at https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.comBackground: Knowing customers’ level of satisfaction is relevant to improve and provide quality health care services. In the clinical laboratory, monitoring customers’ satisfaction is an important indicator of the quality management system and required by international laboratory standards. However, in Ethiopia, there has not been baseline data about the satisfaction level of patients’ with laboratory services at the national level. The aim of this national level survey was to assess patients’ satisfaction level with laboratory services at public hospitals in Ethiopia. Methods: A national survey was conducted using an institutional based cross-sectional study design was employed from 01 to 30 November 2017. A total of 2399 patients were selected randomly from 60 public hospitals. Data was collected using structured questionnaire, entered in Epi Info and analyzed with SPSS software. Multiple logistic regression model was fitted to identify predictors of patients’ satisfaction with laboratory services. A p-value of less than 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Result: Overall, 78.6% of the patients were satisfied with the clinical laboratory services. Patients were dissatisfied with cleanness of latrine (47%), long waiting time (30%), clear and understandable advisory service during specimen collection (26%), adequacy of waiting area (25%), easy accessibility of laboratory (19%) and latrine location (20%), availability of requested service (18%), unfair payment of service (17%) and missing of result (12%). The educational status (P = 0.032), and distance (P = 0.000) were significantly associated with client overall satisfaction level. Conclusion: Most laboratory patients’ were satisfied with the service provided by public hospital laboratories in public hospitals in Ethiopia. However, patients’ were dissatisfied with the accessibility of sites, adequacy of waiting area, cleanness of latrine, long TAT, communication, missing of results, availability of requested service and cost of service. Therefore, responsible bodies in each level should act on the identified gaps and improve the need of patients in each hospital laboratory. In addition, all hospital laboratories should conduct a satisfaction survey and meet the needs of laboratory patients.https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-019-4880-9Publisher's versio

Growing apple (Malus Domestica) under tropical mountain climate conditions in Northern Ethiopia

Lack of effective chilling during the dormant season is one of the major problems when apples are growing under a tropical climate. We evaluated the response of different apple cultivars (Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and Jonagold) grown on M9 rootstock with different dormancy-management practices. The trials were carried out between 2004 and 2006 in a tropical mountain area (Tigray, Ethiopia), where chilling conditions are poor with the aimof improving and synchronizing the bud break and the blossoming period of these apple cultivars. Two-year-old well-feathered trees were planted in two experimental trial sites in a randomized complete block design. Trees were subjected to the following treatments in two sets of experiments: one defoliation per year only; two defoliations per year, one defoliation followed by 1% hydrogen cyanamide (Dormex) treatment; one defoliation followed by 2% Dormex treatment; one defoliation followed by 4% winter oil; one defoliation followed by 0.5% Dormex and 2% winter oil; and a control with no defoliation or dormancy breaking treatments. The results show positive effects of the dormancy breaking agents on the productivity of the trees after defoliation, with comparable results for the effectiveness of both Dormex and winter oil. There were no statistically significant differences between the Dormex doses. The defoliation treatment alone was not sufficient to break dormancy for the cultivars Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Gala but showed promising results with dormancy breaking on Jonagold. Yields increased as a result of better lowering time synchronization within a tree but even with the dormancy treatments the length of the flowering period was still spread over five weeks, where under a more temperate climate it lasted two to three weeks. The average fruit weight of Jonagold and Granny Smith can be considered as a good fruit quality while the fruit of other diploid cultivars like Golden, Gala and Fuji were rather small, which indicates that fruit thinning by hand will be a necessity for these cultivars. Red colouration of the apples on the cultivars Gala and Jonagold was excellent and meets the standards necessary for commercialization of these fruits. The sugar concentration of the fruits and the fruit firmness at harvest was high. The results of these first trials indicate that it is possible to develop new apple production in the mountain region of Tigray, Ethiopia.status: publishe

Burden and risk factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Sub-Saharan African countries, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of disease study 2019

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has experienced a surge of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) over the past two decades. Using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD), in this study we have estimated the burden and attributable risk factors of COPD across SSA countries between 1990 and 2019. Methods: COPD burden and its attributable risk factors were estimated using data from the 2019 GBD. Percentage change was estimated to show the trend of COPD estimates from 1990 to 2019. COPD estimates attributable by risk factors were also reported to ascertain the risk factor that brings the greatest burden by sex and locations (at country and regions level). Findings: In 2019, all-age prevalent cases of COPD in SSA were estimated to be 10.3 million (95% Uncertainty Intervals (UI) 9.7 million to 10.9 million) showing an increase of 117% compared with the number of all-age COPD cases in 1990. From 1990 to 2019, SSA underwent an increased percentage change in all-age YLDs due to COPD ranging from 41% in Lesotho to 203% in Equatorial Guinea. The largest premature mortality due to COPD was reported from Central SSA accounting for 729 subjects (95% UI, 509-1078). The highest rate of DALYs attributable to COPD was observed in Lesotho. Household air pollution from solid fuel was the primary contributor of the age standardized YLDs, death rate, and DALYs rate per 100,000 population. Interpretation: The prevalence of COPD in SSA has had a steady increase over the past three decades and has progressively become a major public health burden across the region. Household air pollution from solid fuel is the primary contributor to COPD related burden, and its percentage contribution showed a similar trend to the reduction of COPD attributed age-standardized DALY rate. The methodological limitations of surveys and datapoints included in the GBD need to be considered when interpreting these associations. Funding: There are no specific fundings received for this study. The Global Burden of Disease study was supported by funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation