A Survey of Traditional Medicinal Plants Used by Traditional Healers in Dabat District, Northwestern Ethiopia

This study was aimed at obtaining information on the use of medicinal plants by traditional healers in Dabat district for the treatment of human disorders. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data pertaining to plants commonly used to treat health problems and the way traditional healers prepare the medicaments/ remedies. The informants were traditional healers living in Dabat district who volunteered to participate in the study. Dabat district is located in Northwestern Ethiopia, and is approximately 814 Km from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Thirty-one traditional healers were interviewed and 66 traditionally used medicinal plants were reported. Fifty-one plants included in 35 families were identified taxonomically at species level, while 15 were only known by their vernacular names. Forty-four medicinal plants were used as single remedy and 13 herbal preparations were composite remedies. The medicinal plants reported are claimed to treat the prevalent diseases of the district. Herbal medicine might, therefore, play a great role in the primary health care system of the district. Keywords: medicinal plants, traditional healers, semi-structured questionnaire, Dabat district, Northwestern EthiopiaEthiopian Pharmaceutical Journal Vol. 25 (2) 2007: pp. 131-14

Pharmacy Students’ Attitude and Future Career Choices: A survey of Four Public Schools of Pharmacy in Ethiopia

Pharmacy as a health profession has major responsibilities and  contributions in maintaining health of the society. Thus, pharmacists have to maintain professional behaviour and attitude that is worthy of therespect the public has for the profession. Studies on pharmacy students’ attitude and career choice are important to understand next generation pharmacists’ expectation so that policy makers would act accordingly. The objective of this study is to assess pharmacy students’ attitude and future career choice towards pharmacy profession in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional survey using self-administered questionnaire was conducted among 422 sampled pharmacy students in four public universities of Ethiopia, from April to May 2013. Ethical approval of the study was obtained from all schools included in the study and oral consent was secured from the participants. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics was generated and possible relationships between variables were tested using a chisquare test. From 415 study participants, 313 (75.4%) of them were males and 37.2% were within the age range of 20-21 years. Slightly more than half (51.1%) of the students claimed that they joined Pharmacy school by choice. The mean attitude score of the students towards pharmacy profession was 3.69±1.28 in a scale of 1-5. Nearly half (44%) of the students had a desire to work in hospital  pharmacy, while 35.1% of them had no preference related to specific area of practice. Though pharmacy was not their first choice for significant  number of students, at entry, they had positive attitude towards the  profession and were optimistic to practice in hospital pharmacy. Hence, mechanisms should be in place to advocate the profession for prospective students so that there would be informed decision to join the profession.Keywords: pharmacy students, attitude, career choice, Ethiopia, pharmacy schoo

Use of family planning methods in Kassala, Eastern Sudan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Investigating use and determinants of family planning methods may be instructive in the design of interventions to improve reproductive health services.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Across sectional community-based study was conducted during the period February-April 2010 to investigate the use of family planning in Kassala, eastern Sudan. Structured questionnaires were used to gather socio-demographic data and use of family planning. The mean ± SD of the age and parity of 613 enrolled women was 31.1 ± 7 years and 3.4 ± 1.9, respectively. Only 44.0% of these women had previously or currently used one or more of the family planning methods. Combined pills (46.7%) and progesterone injection (17.8%) were the predominant method used by the investigated women. While age, residence were not associated with the use of family planning, parity (> five), couple education (≥ secondary level) were significantly associated with the use of family planning. Husband objection and religious beliefs were the main reasons of non-use of family planning.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Education, encouragement of health education programs and involvement of the religious persons might promote family planning in eastern Sudan.</p

Meeting Rural Demand: A Case for Combining Community-Based Distribution and Social Marketing of Injectable Contraceptives in Tigray, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: In Sub-Saharan Africa, policy changes have begun to pave the way for community distribution of injectable contraceptives but sustaining such efforts remains challenging. Combining social marketing with community-based distribution provides an opportunity to recover some program costs and compensate workers with proceeds from contraceptive sales. This paper proposes a model for increasing access to injectable contraceptives in rural settings by using community-based distributers as social marketing agents and incorporating financing systems to improve sustainability. METHODS: This intervention was implemented in three districts of the Central Zone of Tigray, Ethiopia and program data has been collected from November 2011 through October 2012. A total of 137 Community Based Reproductive Health Agents (CBRHAs) were trained to provide injectable contraceptives and were provided with a loan of 25 injectable contraceptives from a drug revolving fund, created with project funds. The price of a single dose credited to a CBRHA was 3 birr ($0.17) and they provide injections to women for 5 birr ($0.29), determined with willingness-to-pay data. Social marketing was used to create awareness and generate demand. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to examine important feasibility aspects of the intervention. RESULTS: Forty-four percent of CBRHAs were providing family planning methods at the time of the training and 96% believed providing injectable contraceptives would improve their services. By October 2012, 137 CBRHAs had successfully completed training and provided 2541 injections. Of total injections, 47% were provided to new users of injectable contraceptives. Approximately 31% of injections were given for free to the poorest women, including adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Insights gained from the first year of implementation of the model provide a framework for further expansion in Tigray, Ethiopia. Our experience highlights how program planners can tailor interventions to match family planning preferences and create more sustainable contraceptive service provision with greater impact