Prevalence of dental caries in high school students in Asmara, Eritrea

Background: Dental Caries is a common but unnoticed health problem affecting all age groups Dental Surgeon to population ration is 1:900000 rendering effective service with this scarce man power impossible. Objective: To determine the prevalence of dental caries in Eritrea. Method: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted to determine the prevalence of dental caries and the factors contributing to it among high school students of Asmara. Data was collected in the month of April 2002. The study population was from 4 randomly selected schools out of the 13 high schools. The data collection techniques were interviewing and observations using structured questionnaire and check list forms .The sampling method was multi stage 4 schools were selected by simple random sampling and systematic sampling was applied to select 100 students from each of the year sampled schools. Results: Slightly more than 50% of the students had dental caries .Of these 123 (67%) of the students had 1-3 decayed teeth. The study did not reveal any significant association between the suspected contributing factors and dental caries. The awareness of the students in regard to their dental health status had significant association with the presence of dental caries. But 88 (55%) of them did not seek medical care in spite of knowing that they had dental problem. Conclusion: Dental carries are common among school going children. There is limited knowledge about the existence of the problem and even if present a substantial fraction does not seek medical attention. There is urgent need to institute national interventions to prevent the further increase in disease burden from dental diseases. Conclusion: Dental caries are a major disease in Eritrea. IEC materials should be disseminated to curb further increase in dental problems targeting students at high schools as they are a vulnerable group

The impact of war on HIV/AIDS service provision: In rural health facilities of Tigray, northern Ethiopia, a cross-sectional study.

Back groundHIV/AIDS remained among the common public health problems in developing country. Despite the extensive delivery of ART and improved coverage of the service access, still, man-made problems like war have negatively influenced the utilization of antiretroviral treatment services. The war in Tigray Region in the northern Ethiopia broke out in November 2020 and thereby has brought about an extreme damage on most of the infrastructure in Tigray, including the health institutions. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to assess and report the trend of HIV service provision across the war affected rural health facilities in Tigray.MethodsThe study was conducted in 33 rural health facilities during the active war in Tigray. A facility based retrospective cross-sectional study design was conducted among health facilities from July 03 to August 05, 2021.ResultA total of 33 health facilities from 25 rural districts were included in the HIV service delivery assessment. A total of 3274 and 3298 HIV patients were seen during pre-war period in September and October 2020, respectively. The number of follow-up patients during the war period in January remained to be only 847(25%) which is significantly reduced with a P valueConclusionThe war has led to a significant decline of HIV service provision in the rural health facilities and most part of the region during the first eight months of active war in Tigray

High risk of early sub-therapeutic penicillin concentrations after intramuscular benzathine penicillin G injections in Ethiopian children and adults with rheumatic heart disease.

IntroductionIntramuscular benzathine penicillin G (BPG) injections are a cornerstone of secondary prophylaxis to prevent acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Uncertainties regarding inter-ethnic and preparation variability, and target exposure profiles of BPG injection are key knowledge gaps for RHD control.MethodsTo evaluate BPG pharmacokinetics (PK) in patients receiving 4-weekly doses in Ethiopia, we conducted a prospective cohort study of ARF/RHD patients attending cardiology outpatient clinics. Serum samples were collected weekly for one month after injection and assayed with a liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy assay. Concentration-time datasets for BPG were analyzed by nonlinear mixed effects modelling using NONMEM.ResultsA total of 190 penicillin concentration samples from 74 patients were included in the final PK model. The median age, weight, BMI was 21 years, 47 kg and 18 kg/m2, respectively. When compared with estimates derived from Indigenous Australian patients, the estimate for median (95% confidence interval) volume of distribution (V/F) was lower (54.8 [43.9-66.3] l.70kg-1) whilst the absorption half-life (t1/2-abs2) was longer (12.0 [8.75-17.7] days). The median (IQR) percentage of time where the concentrations remained above 20 ng/mL and 10 ng/mL within the 28-day treatment cycle was 42.5% (27.5-60) and 73% (58.5-99), respectively.ConclusionsThe majority of Ethiopian patients receiving BPG as secondary prophylaxis to prevent RHD do not attain target concentrations for more than two weeks during each 4-weekly injection cycle, highlighting the limitations of current BPG strategies. Between-population variation, together with PK differences between different preparations may be important considerations for ARF/RHD control programs