Medical traditions and chronic disease in Ethiopia: a story of wax and gold?

Effective medical care for non-communicable diseases (NCD) remains lamentably poor in Ethiopia and many low-income countries. Consequently, where modern medicine does not reach or is rejected, traditional treatments prevail. These are fragmented and esoteric by nature, and their understanding of illness is so fundamentally different that confusion proliferates when attempts are made to introduce modern medical care. Ethiopia is host to a variety of longstanding medical belief systems that coexist and function together, where modern medicine is often viewed as just another choice. This multiplicity of approaches to illness is accompanied by the Ethiopian custom of weaving layers of meaning, often contradictory, into speech and conversation - sometimes referred to as 'wax and gold', the 'wax' being the literal and the 'gold' the deeper, even hidden, meaning or significance. We argue that engagement with traditional belief systems and understanding these subtleties of meaning could assist in more effective NCD care

Prevalence of bovine trypanosomosis in Wemberma district of West Gojjam zone, North West Ethiopia

A cross-sectional survey of bovine trypanosomosis was carried out in Wemberma district of west Gojjam zone, North West Ethiopia. From three peasant associations in the district (one from the midland and two from lowland), 384 cattle were randomly selected and examined for trypanosomosis. The prevalence of the disease as determined by buffy coat techinque was 7.81(95% CI = 5.11- 10.5%). Trypanosoma vivax and T. congolense were detected from buffy coat positive samples. Among the total of 30 cases of trypanosome infections detected 24(80%) of the infections were due to T.vivax and the rest 6(20 %) were due to T. congolense. No statistically significant associations(P>0.05) were observed between the disease and potential risk factors like age, sex and agroecology. However, when the different species of trypanosomes were considered, T. congolense infections were found only in the lowland. A significant association was observed (P<0.05) between the disease positivity and body condition score. When the mean packed cell volume of trypanosome infected animals was compared with that of non infected animals, it was significantly lower (P<0.05) in the infected animals, and the reduction was significantly lower (p<0.05) for T. congolense infection as compared with T. vivax infection. In conclusion, trypanosomsis was found to be important disease in the study area, and T. vivax was the more prevalent species and T. congolense with more negative impact in mean packed cell volume of affected animals

Analysis of the determinants of small-scale farmers’ grain market participations in Ethiopia: The contribution of transaction costs

The paper is based on data collected in 2007/08 by IFPRI on smallholder market participation in Ethiopia from a random cross-section sample of 1577 households, with a focus on staple food grains and the effects of transaction and non-transaction costs on output market participations as a buyer and a seller. The multivariate Probit and multivariate Tobit models were used to identify the determinants of market participation regimes. The results indicated that demographic characteristics of the households (age and dependency ratio), production assets (own and rented-in land and oxen), land characteristics, volume of production, and households income diversification (livestock and non-farm income) affected both sellers and buyers. Transaction costs associated with ownership of donkey and access to road and market explained the variation of market participations. Regional characteristics (distances, agro-climatic conditions, etc.) also highly affected the market participation of the households.Keywords: Ethiopia; market participation; multivariate Tobit; multivariate Probit; transaction cost

Experience of stigma and discrimination and the implications for healthcare seeking behavior among people living with HIV/AIDS in resource-limited setting

Background: Stigma and discrimination can limit access to care and treatment services. Stigma hides HIV from the public, resulting in reduced pressure for behavioral change. For effective behavior change, empirically grounded and theory-based behavioral change approaches are fundamental as a prevention interventions directed on decreasing stigma and discrimination. The objective of the study was to assess the experience of stigma and discrimination on the psychosocial and health care seeking behavior of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Arba Minch, Ethiopia.Methods: This study uses qualitative methods involving focus-group discussions and in-depth interviews conducted in Arba Minch town and nearby Kebeles. Our sample consisted of PLHIV and other key informants who were purposively selected. Data were analyzed manually using thematic content analysis framework.Results: It appears that the magnitude of stigma and discrimination in the area has decreased to a considerably lower level, however, the problem’s severity is still being influenced by various factors including: current residence, disclosure status and level of community’s awareness about HIV/AIDS. Care and support services provided to PLHIV were well accepted by the respondents and the majority of them were willing to make use of any service available. Health information messages that have been disseminated to the public through mass media since the start of the epidemic in 1984 and AIDS cases in 1986 have played a significant role regarding the current prevailing problem of stigma and discrimination of PLHIV.Conclusion: Stigma and discrimination have come to a level that can be tolerated by most PLHIV that live in this region, especially those who have disclosed their HIV status and were living in urban areas. This calls for a strategy that improves the rates of serostatus disclosure after HIV counseling and testing and strengthens and integrates activities in the task of expanding care and support activities.Keywords: HIV/AIDS, stigma, discrimination, EPPM, Ethiopi

Evidence on the effect of gender of new-born, antenatal care and postnatal care on breastfeeding practices in Ethiopia:a meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis of observational studies (vol 9, e023956, 2019)

The following amendments were considered to the original version of this article. Reference 35: Gultie T, Sebsibie G. Determinants of suboptimal breastfeeding practice in Debre Berhan town, Ethiopia: a cross sectional study. Int Breastfeed J 2016;11 has been excluded from the published article. Authors have found in their meta-analysis, 1 that this study in reference 352 was retracted from the International Breastfeeding Journal in 2018 (online: 07 March 2018) because of significant overlap of both text and data with the Master's Thesis of Hilina Ketma, "Assessment of prevalence and determinants of suboptimal breastfeeding among mothers of children aged less than two years in Dire Dawa City Administration, Ethiopia, June 2013", which was defended at the School of Graduate Studies, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June 2013.3 Therefore, authors have performed reanalysis by excluding Gultie and Sebsibie study (reference 35), and revised figure 3 and figure 5. In conclusion, despite having excluded Gultie and Sebsibie study, the results show that antenatal care significantly associated with timely initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding. Therefore, the central findings of the original article remain unaffected. Please, find the revised figures. (Figure Presented)