Condom utilization and sexual behavior of female sex workers in Northwest Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Sexually transmitted infections are among the most important public health problems in the world. People who indulge in unsafe sex, such as female sex workers are the most at risk population groups due to multiple sexual partners and inconsistent condom use. The aim of this study was to assess condom utilization and sexual behavior of female sex workers in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional study triangulated with qualitative method was conducted from March 20 - April 10, 2014 in Gondar town. The quantitative data were collected through interviewing 488 female sex workers while in-depth interview was administered to collect qualitative data from 10 female sex workers. The collected data were entered into EPI-INFO version 3.5.3 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 software for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was done to determine the association between condom utilization and independent variables. Results: This study revealed that less than half (47.7%) of the respondents utilized condom with any type of client. Secondary education or above, perceiving themselves at risk of HIV/AIDS infection, having awareness that sexually transmitted infections could increase HIV infection, being tested for HIV/AIDS in the last 12 months, and having lower number of clients in a month were positively associated with condom utilization. Conclusion: This finding depicted that condom utilization was low among female sex workers. Thus, developing and implementing target oriented behavioral change and communication strategies are needed to prevent the risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections in female sex workers.Keywords: Female sex worker, Condom utilization, AIDS, STIs, Ethiopi

Ecological distribution, heavy metals profiling and human health risk assessment of medicinal plants used for tonsillitis and wounds treatment: A chemometric approach

Medicinal plants in Ethiopia are easily accessible, relatively low cost and trusted by the community, which drives people to use them to treat a variety of ailments for many years. For instance, Kalanchoe petition, Rhamnus prinoide & Acmella caulirhiza are the most popular medicinal plants that have been used for treating tonsillitis, while Brucea antidysenteric, Justicia shimperian, Jatropha curcas & Prunus Africana have been used for treating wounds. However, the presence of toxic chemicals like heavy metals above threshold concentrations poses a global threat to human health. This study was conducted to determine the levels of heavy metals and to evaluate non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health impacts posed by using medicinal plants so as to create awareness among users about the chemical compositions of these plants. Five hundred grams of leaves, barks and flowers of the medicinal plants were collected randomly from ten plants from Ayehu Guwagusa and Asagirt districts, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia in July 2022, and 0.5 g of homogenized samples were digested with HNO3 and HClO4 and the levels of metals were determined using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS). The levels were (mg/kg) Fe: 173.6 ± 9.1-332.2 ± 9.2, Zn: 8.7 ± 0.2-40.2 ± 0.3, Cu: 29 ± 4- 84.1 ± 4.7, Mn: 17.03 ± 1.6- 77.4 ± 1.7, Ni: BDL- 41.4 ± 4.3, and Pb: 21.3 ± 15.1- 49.9 ± 9.6. Cd was found to below the detection limit. The hazard index is less than unity, ranged from 6.64 × 10−4 (J. schimperiana) to 6.43 × 10−3 (J. curcas) for all samples, indicating no significant non-carcinogenic effect on users due to heavy metals. Similarly, the carcinogenic risk values of Ni were raged from 6.64 × 10−9 in B. antidysenterica to 1.16 × 10−8 in J. curcas and for Pb it was found to be 6.04 × 10−8 in R. prinoides and 1.41 × 10−7 in J. curcas.Therefore, the results of this study indicated that the exposed populations are unlikely to experience any adverse cancer risk