The Pattern of Cardiac Diseases at the Cardiac Clinic of Jimma University Specialised Hospital, South West Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic heart disease is the commonest cardiac disease in most sub-Saharan African countries, followed by hypertensive heart disease which is rising along with the other non-communicable diseases. However the pattern in our setting is not known. This study aimed to determine the pattern of cardiac diseases among adult patients on follow-up at the cardiac follow-up clinic of Jimma University Specialized Hospital. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on cardiac patients who are newly enrolled to the cardiac follow up clinic of Jimma university specialized hospital during a five year period from 2003 to 2008. Out of the total 837 cases that were newly enrolled to the clinic in the five year period, 781 patients who had complete record about etiologic diagnosis were included in the study. The data were collected using structured record review checklist. The collected data were then analyzed using SPSS for windows version 12.0. RESULTS: Rheumatic heart disease was the diagnosis in 256 (32.8%) of the cardiac cases on follow-up followed by hypertensive heart disease and cardiomyopathy accounting for 189 (24.2%) and 158 (20.2%) of cases, respectively. Among Rheumatic heart disease patients; male to female ratio was 0.86:1 and the mean age was 31.4 years. One hundred ninety three (75.4%) of the cases with rheumatic heart disease had echocardiographic report that showed valve(s) involvements of pure MS in 99 (51.3%) and combined MS, MR in 49 (25.4%). Overall, hypertension contributed for a total of 241 (30.9%) of cardiac patients that included 189 (24.2%) hypertensive heart disease and 52 (6.7%) as one major risk factor for ischemic heart disease. CONCLUSION: Rheumatic, hypertensive and cardiomyopathic heart diseases accounted for more than three-quarters of cardiac diseases in the study population. This study highlighted the need for further study to determine the burden at community setting

Reproductive biology and condition factor of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) in Lake Koka, Ethiopia

The study was conducted to investigate the breeding season, sex ratio, size at maturation, fecundity and condition factor of African catfish Clarias gariepinus in Lake Koka. A total of 754 fish specimens were collected from October 2020 to August 2021. Total length and weight were measured and sexes were identified and gonad maturity levels were recorded. The sex ratio of African catfish in different size classes was similar to that of a hypothetical 1:1 ratio. The length at first maturity (L50) was 51.8 cm in total length. The mean Fulton’s condition factor of female African catfish ranged from 0.65 ± 0.05 – 0.71 ± 0.14, while the males ranged from 0.62 ± 0.04 – 0.7 ± 0.11. The Fulton’s condition factor was significantly higher in August for females than in the rest of the sampling months. The highest ripe gonads were recorded in the rainy season and the lowest was in the dry season, with the percentage of ripe gonads being 27.5%, while the males showed similarly extended maturity patterns among seasons. Fisheries management for African catfish should therefore take into account the estimated L50 value and the main breeding season to sustain the fishery and benefits the fishermen

Analysis of a public school’s practices and values through the lens of equitable quality education for All: A case for juxtaposing schools and SDGs

This study examined the hidden curriculum of a primary school embedded in assessment practices and students’ performance. Critical education theorists’ arguments on education, social and cultural reproduction, and Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital are used to inform the study. Using a participative observer case study methodology, the study employed interview, observation, and document analysis to collect data. The participants (four students, two teachers, and the principal) of the study were selected using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected from these participants. The results of the study revealed that school assessment techniques and students’ achievement implicitly and explicitly communicate and institutionalize social stratification in the school which in turn considerably influences students’ access to school resources, school leadership positions, and school communities’ expectations on students. Students, teachers, and the school leadership, wittingly or unwittingly, are active actors in the implicit and explicit socialization process which reinforces values and practices that contradict equitable quality education for all. The findings suggest that policy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for equitable quality education should heed to actual school and classroom practices, and not merely be assessed based on data that are disaggregated along gender, rural and urban, or other social groupings. Unless global declarations are clearly operationalized and efforts are made to strengthen a continuum between global and national goals and school and classroom practices, utter dependence on statistical data on gender, location, and other indicators of equity does not address ingrained challenges and opportunities for equitable quality educatio

Predictors of stunting among pediatric children living with HIV/AIDS, Eastern Ethiopia

Globally, there were about 3.4 million pediatric children (<15 years of age) who were living with HIV/AIDS. Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2013, there were about 160,000 pediatric children living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. Even though undernutrition makes it difficult to combat HIV/AIDS, there is paucity of information on the magnitude of stunting and its predictors among seropositive pediatric children in low-income countries like Ethiopia. Institution based quantitative cross sectional study design was employed on 414 randomly selected pediatric (5-15 years) children living with HIV/AIDS in Harari Region and Dire Dawa City Administration Public Hospitals, Eastern Ethiopia. Pretested interviewer administered questionnaire and patient card review was held to collect data. Data were entered through Epi-data and exported to SPSS for analysis. The WHO Anthros plus software was used to calculate the anthropometric indices. Bivariate and Multivariable analysis along with 95%CI were done to identify predictors of stunting. Level of statistical significance was declared at P-value <0.05. The prevalence of stunting was found to be 30.9% (95%CI: 26.0-36.0%). Rural residence [AOR=4.0, (95%CI: 2.22, 7.17)], family monthly income of ≤500 ETB [AOR=5.79, (95%CI: 2.82, 11.60)], being anemic [AOR=3.17, (95% CI: 2.13, 4.93)] and the presence of diarrhea [AOR=6.21, 95% (CI: 3.39, 9.24)] were predictors of stunting. Thus, collaborative measures should be undertaken (to decrease frequent infections and to improve the economic status) to combat chronic malnutrition during HIV/AIDS treatment

Livelihood Strategies and Food Security of Rural Households in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Despite the continuing economic dominance of agriculture in Wolaita, farm households widely engage in and pursue diverse livelihood activities to generate income and achieve food security. The major objectives of this study are to analyze households’ food security status as an outcome of livelihood strategies and identify factors affecting food security of rural farm households. For the purpose of this study primary data were collected from randomly selected 300 households in four woredas of the zone. The main tools of analysis for this study include descriptive statistics and logistic regression model. The finding of the survey result indicates that rural households in the study area practice diversified livelihood strategies, in that large part of the respondents (57.7%) combine agriculture with other activities (non/off-farm). Food security status of the households was analyzed based on nationally recommended calorie requirement (2200kcal) of the households. Based on this, about 57% of the sample households found to be food insecure. The relationship b/n rural households’ livelihood strategies and food security status depicted that majority of food secured households (62%) rely on farming alone as one of most important livelihood strategies. On the contrary, non-farming and off-farming activities were the common livelihood means which specifically practiced by food insecure households. Binary logit model results reveal that out of 25 explanatory variables included in the logistic model, 12 were found to be significant at less than 10% probability level. According to this, education, family size in AE, cultivated land size, frequency of extension visit, access for credit, access to farm plus off-farm activities, access to farm plus non-farm and off-farm activities, safety net aid, use of chemical fertilizer, cooperative membership and agro-ecological zone were found to be the most important determinants affecting the state of food security positively. On the other hand, family size in AE was found negatively and significantly affected food security status of the household. The finding of the study considers government and other concerned bodies to design appropriate development policies and strategies in relation to significant variables to bring sustainable livelihood improvement in attaining household food security goals. Keywords: Livelihood strategies, determinants of food security, rural households, binary logit model, Woliata, Ethiopi

Integrated Control of the White Mango Scale Through Tree Management and Soil Drenching with a Systemic Insecticide in Western Ethiopia

አህፅሮት ነጭ የማንጎ ስኬል ሰይንሳዊ መጠሪያው Aulacaspis tubercularis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) ሲሆን እ.ኤ.አ. በ2010 ዓ.ም. ተከስቶ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የማንጎ ምርትን አደጋ ላይ የጣለ ተባይ ነው፡፡ በመላው አገሪቱ በአጭር ጊዜ ተሰራጭቶ የማንጎ ምርትና ጥራት እንዲቀንስ አድርጓል፡፡ ተባዩን ለመቆጣጠር ከሚወሰዱ ርምጃዎች ውስጥ፤ ፀረ-ተባይ መጠቀም፣የተክል አያያዝን ማሻሻልና በጥገኛ ነፍሳት በመጠቀም በሥነ-ሕይወታዊ መንገድ መቆጣጠር ይገኙበታል፡፡ በማንጎ ተክል ውስጥ ተሰራጭቶ የሚሰራ ፀረ-ተባይን በአንድ ሊትር ውሀ በጥብጦ በተክሉ ዙሪያ ማጠጣትና የማንጎን ቅርንጫፎች መግረዝ (የተክል አያያዝን መጠቀም) ነጭ የማንጎ ስኬል ተባይን ለመቆጣጠር ያለውን ፍቱንነት ለመመርመር እ.ኤ.አ. በ2018 እና 2019 ዓ.ም. በምዕራብ ኢትዮጵያ በሚገኙ ሁለት አካባቢዎች ለተከታታይ ሁለት ዓመታት የመስክ ሙከራ ተካሄዶ ነበር፡፡ ለሙከራው በሶስት ድግግሞሽ የተሰራ ራንደማይዝድ ኮምፕሊት ብሎክ የተባለ ዲዛይን ጥቅም ላይ ውሏል፡፡ በውጤቱም የተባዩ ድምር ቁጥር በሁለቱም ዓመታትና በሁለቱም አካባቢዎች ማለትም ኡኬ እና ባኮ ላይ ውጤታማ በሆነ መልኩ ሊቀንስ ችሏል፡፡ ኡኬ ላይ የማንጎ ተክል ቅርንጫፎችን መግረዝና ቲያሜቶክሳም 25በመቶ WG 18ግራም በአንድ የማንጎ ተክል ዙርያ በአንድ ሊትር ውኃ በጥብጦ መርጨት በመጀመሪያው ዓመት የመጀመሪያ ርጭት ወደ ዝቅተኛ የተባዩ ቁጥር (42.23 በቅጠል) ሲያወረደው በዚያው ዓመት ሁለተኛው ዙር ርጭት ወደ 27.83 በቅጠል አድርሶታል፡፡ ይህንኑ ፀረ-ተባይ በተመሳሳይ ሁኔታ በ12 ግራም መጠን መስጠት ደግሞ የተባዩን ቁጥር በመጀመሪያ ዙር ርጭት 86.83 በቅጠል እንዲሆን ሲያደርገው በሁለተኛው ዙር ርጭት ወደ 61.0 በቅጠል እንዲቀንስ አድርጎታል፡፡ ለማወዳደሪያ ምንም ርጭትም ሆነ መግረዝ ያልተደረገባቸው የማንጎ ተክሎች በመጀመሪያው ዙር ርጭት 334.32 ተባይ በቅጠል እንዲሁም በሁለተኛው ዙር ርጭት 591.29 ተባይ በቅጠል የሆነ ከፍተኛ ቁጥር ታይቶባቸዋል፡፡ ባኮ ላይም የተካሄደው ሙከራ ተመሳሳይ ውጤት አሳይቷል፡፡ይህ ምርምር ከላይ የተጠቀሰውን ዘዴ መጠቀም ተባዩን ለመቆጣጠር ተስፋ ሰጪ ውጤት ያስገኘ መሆኑን አመላክቷል፡፡ ይህንኑ ዘዴ ከሌሎች ማለትም ጥገኛ ነፍሳትን በመጠቀም በሥነ-ሕይወታዊ መንገድ መቆጣጠር ዘዴዎች ጋር ማቀናጀት ያለውን ጠቀሜታና ፀረ-ተባዩ በማንጎ ፍሬ ይዘት ላይ ያለውን ተፅዕኖ በቀጣይ ማጥናት ያስፈልጋል፡፡   Abstract The white mango scale insect, Aulacaspis tubercularis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) is a recent threat to mango production in Ethiopia which was introduced in 2010. It has spread to all mango producing areas of the country within a short period of time reducing the production and quality of mangos. Control measures taken against the white mango scale include the use of chemical insecticides, cultural practices and biological control using parasitoids and predators. Field experiments were conducted in western Ethiopia in two locations for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019 to evaluate the efficacy of integrated application of a systemic soil drenching pesticide and tree management (pruning) for the control of the white mango scale. Randomized complete block designs with three replications were used for the experiments. The total number of WMS life stages varied significantly among the different treatments throughout the two years and application seasons at both Uke and Bako sites.  At Uke Thiamethoxam 25% WG at 18g/tree + pruning treated trees showed the minimum mean number of WMS life stages per leaf (42.23) and (27.83) followed by Thiamethoxam 25% WG at 12g/tree + pruning treated trees (86.83) and (61.0) in the first and second application seasons respectively. Control trees showed the highest (334.33) and (591.29) number of WMS life stages in the first and second application seasons respectively. Similar trends were observed at Bako. The study has shown that the integrated use of the systemic soil drenching insecticide and tree management can significantly reduce the WMS life stages on infested mango trees indicating that it is a promising approach to the control of the WMS. Integration of these approaches with other management components such as biological control agents and the effect of the systemic insecticide on the content of the edible fruit deserves further study. &nbsp

Actor roles and networks in agricultural climate services in Ethiopia: a social network analysis

This paper aims to better understand actors involved in the generation, translation, communication and governance of agricultural climate services and their networks in Ethiopia. To achieve these objectives, about 65 actor organizations were selected across seven regions and two city administrations in Ethiopia through a scoping study, extensive literature review, and snowball sampling. Structured questionnaires with closed and open-ended questions were designed to gather relevant information. Results were used to compute network size, density and centrality measures. Our findings show that climate services are regularly communicated to only 10% of the total districts (woredas) on average, with only a third of the actors involved in communicating these services. No single organization or institution plays a dominant role in production, translation, communication or governance of climate services, but a network of organizations and institutions are involved. Major challenges faced by the actors involved in production, translation and delivery of climate services included lack of human and financial resources and weak monitoring and evaluation systems. The paper highlights the importance of strengthening partnerships and networking among actors including monitoring and evaluation systems at all levels to facilitate effective production, translation and dissemination of climate services to farmers

Estimating the economic benefits of alternative options for investing in agricultural climate services in Africa: A review of methodologies

Smallholder farmers in Africa are especially vulnerable to climate fluctuations and weather extremes, and are expected to suffer disproportionately from climate change. Climate services empower the poor particularly in climate-sensitive developing countries such as the ones in Africa, and allow them to reduce exposure and vulnerability of their agricultural sector to climate-related extreme events. Hence, the importance of investing in the enhancement of generating and delivery system of climate services to the resource poor farming communities of the continent provides a low regret adaptation to future climate change. This report reviews the suitability of ex-ante evaluation methods for informing funding agencies, private sectors, and other national and regional stakeholders about the benefits of alternative investment options in climate services. The review considers relevant and recent studies taking into account the agricultural sector. The review shows that economic modelling and stated preference approaches have the widest use and potential to estimate the benefits of climate services in Africa. However, comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the methods conveys a message that there is no one type of method that fits into all different cases in estimating the benefits of climate services. Therefore, depending on particular cases, it would be necessary to use the appropriate method or combination of methods to enhance agricultural productivity, food and nutrition security, and the resilience of the resource poor vulnerable smallholder farming communities to climate variabilities and change in Africa

Assessment of nutritional status and its associated factors among people affected by human immune deficiency virus on antiretroviral therapy: a cross sectional study in Siltie zone, south Ethiopia

Ethiopia is among the countries most affected by malnutrition and nutrition-related complications remain a challenging issue for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)- infected patients and those involved in their care. The aim of this study was to assess nutritional status among HIV positive adults in South Ethiopia and assess risk factors for malnutrition in this population. Institution based cross sectional study was conducted among 428 HIV positive adults who are taking ART at 12 health centers, Silte zone, Ethiopia. Convenience sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 software. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify predictors of malnutrition. P-value less than 0.05 were used as cut of point to declare statistical significance. Prevalence of chronic energy deficiency was 24.1%. Food insecurity [AOR= 0.35, 95% CI (0.21, 0.62)], feeding ≤ 2 meals/day [AOR= 0.29, 95% CI (0.29, 0.13)], ambulatory functional status [AOR= 3.4, 95% CI (1.67, 6.98)] and absence of dietary counseling [AOR= 1.7, 95% CI (1.05, 2.78)] were found to be independent predictors of chronic energy deficiency among HIV positive adults. Prevalence of malnutrition is high among HIV infected adults who are on ART in the study area. Regular nutritional assessment of the patients and dietary counseling should be integrated with routine care for HIV/AIDS patients. HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs need to involve nutritionists or trained health care provider to integrate nutritional care services

Modeling farmers' preference and willingness to pay for improved climate services in Rwanda

This study aims to understand how Rwandan farmers value the improved characteristics of climate services introduced to them in a choice experiment setting. Data were collected from 1,525 household heads in November 2019. A random parameters logit model was used to analyze the data. Results suggest that Rwandan farmers value forecast accuracy, dissemination through a combination of extension agents and the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture process, and bundling with market price information. This study suggests that to improve agricultural management planning and food security of farmers through the provision of climate services, these services need to be accurate, user-tailored, and accessible