Road traffic accidents and the contributing factors among drivers of public transportation in Mizan Aman town, Ethiopia: a Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

BackgroundTraffic accidents on the road is an accident is a terrible accident that causes death, injury, and property damage. However, limited studies were addressed to investigate the prevalence of traffic accidents on the road and the contributing factors among drivers that help in developing strategies to cop-up the incidence within the research domain in Ethiopia, particularly in the study area.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the prevalence of road traffic accidents and the contributing factors among drivers of public transportation in Mizan Aman town, Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional survey was employed among 376 drivers of public transportation. Every research subject was selected by using a simple random sampling technique. Semi-structured and open-ended questionnaires which comprised demographic characteristics, risky personal behaviors and lifestyles, driver’s factors, vehicle condition, and environmental conditions were used to gather data. And then after, data was collected through interviewer-administered using KoBo Collect tools. Completed data were edited and cleaned in the Kobo collect toolbox and then exported for additional analysis to a statistical tool for social science statistics version 26. The descriptive statistics were displayed as figures, tables, and texts. Binary logistic regression was analyzed to identify the contributing factors. Statistically significant was decided with a p-value of ≤ 0.05.ResultsThe results showed that the prevalence of road traffic accidents among drivers of public transportation in Mizan Aman town was 17%. The study identified factors influencing traffic accidents on the roads including marital status (being single), employee condition (permanent), monthly income (1001-2500 Ethiopia Birr), alcohol use, vehicle maintenance (not), road type (non-asphalt), and weather conditions (being windy).ConclusionThe overall prevalence of road traffic accidents among drivers of public transportation in Mizan Aman town was relatively low. Despite this, sociodemographic characteristics, driver factors, vehicle conditions, and environmental conditions [road type and weather conditions] were the predicting factors of traffic accidents in town. Therefore, reduction strategies should be the highest priority duty for concerned bodies like Mizan Aman town road and transport office, Bench Sheko zone transport and logistics office, and Southwest Ethiopia People Regional State (SWEPRS) transport bureau in the study area

Hand hygiene status and its associated factors among housemaids working in communal living residences in Jimma city, southwest Ethiopia

Objective: Hand hygiene is a milestone, cost-effective, and convenient strategy to prevent the transfer of pathogenic micro-organisms. However, housemaids operating inside a kitchen can be the source of infection. In addition, hand hygiene among housemaids working in dwellings was underexplored. This study aimed to assess the hand hygiene status and associated factors among housemaids working in communal living residences in Jimma City, Southwest Ethiopia. Methods: A total of 230 housemaids were included in this cross-sectional study. Total samples were proportionally allocated for each residence and a simple random sampling technique was applied to select the study participants. Hand hygiene status and relevant characteristics were collected through face-to-face interviews and observations. Hand swab samples were collected and tested for bacterial contaminants. Then, it was inoculated aseptically using streak-plating methods on mannitol salt agar (MSA), MacConkey agar (MCA), salmonella-shigella agar (SSA), and eosin methylene blue (EMB) agar and then incubated at 37 °C for 24 h. Data was edited, cleaned, and double-entered into Epidata version 3.1 and then exported to the statistical package for social science statistics version 26 for further analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to identify associated factors. Statistically significant was declared at P value < 0.05. Results: Two hundred twenty-five housemaids were interviewed with a response rate of 97.8 %. The results showed that the proportion of good hand hygiene status among the housemaids was only 28.0 %. Although the majority of participants reported washing their hands frequently, the prevalence of bacterial contaminants on their hands was high at 72 %. The study identified several factors associated with hand hygiene status, including the occupational status of heads of households (AOR = 0.030, 95 % CI: 0.003, 0.348; P = 0.0050), the effectiveness of the heads of household (AOR = 13.955, 95 % CI: 1.442, 13.500; P = 0.0230), and the removal of accessories during handwashing (AOR = 20.844, 95 % CI: 2.190, 9.842; P = 0.0080). Conclusion: Overall, the hand hygiene status of housemaids was found to be poor and influenced by demographics and other relevant characteristics. The study emphasizes the need for a multimodal strategy involving household heads, local and national authorities, and other stakeholders to raise awareness and advocate for hand hygiene to prevent communicable diseases in the wider community, particularly in the study area