Multi-Lingual Mobile Application to Improve the Pharmaceutical Care of Patients in Ethiopia

Delivering essential information for patients concerning medication they’re taking is vital and improves healthcare services. Due to heavy burdens in every pharmacy, patients in Ethiopia do not get proper advice about the medicinal drugs they’re taking from the pharmacist. Moreover, it is far tough to recognize and interpret the various written instruction on remedy labels or package deal leaflet while not heaving the domain knowledge. As Ethiopia is an importer of many medicinal drugs from abroad, very often the package leaflets are not written in the local language. Therefore, due to language barrier, most of the patients cannot comprehend the information on medication labels and on package leaflet. In this regards most patients purchase the medication without a proper understanding of how to use the medication. This necessitates a technological based solution which serves patients in their language when they want an advice. This study demonstrates the design and implementation of a mobile-based solution to minimize such challenges and improve patient access to the medicinal drugs information. The requirements of the proposed system gathered using interview from pharmacist, doctors, technical expert, and client. Finally, a mobile application prototype is developed and evaluated for its effectiveness

Practice of Postoperative Pain Management in Under-Five Children in A Tertiary Hospital: A Prospective Crossectional Study

BACKGROUND: Despite advancements in pain management, children have remained undertreated for postoperative pain. Data regarding the practice of post-operative pain management in paediatric patients remains less available in the developing world. This study was aimed at evaluating practice of postoperative pain management in under five children. METHODS: A prospective cross sectional one-year study was conducted on all paediatric patients who underwent major paediatric surgical procedures from February 1, 2020 to January31, 2021, at a tertiary hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. RESULT: A single type of analgesic medication was used in 67.1% patients. Analgesic medications were administered on standing base only in 64.4% of patients. Patients’ charts had no documentation of pain assessment both in the neonatal intensive care units and wards.32.89 % of assessed patients had moderate to severe pain record. CONCLUSION: Significant number of patients suffer from post-operative pain because of absence of proper pain assessment and inadequate administration of analgesic medication.   &nbsp

Milk yield and quality of crossbred dairy cows fed with different levels of vetch (Vicia dasycarpa) hay and concentrate on a basal diet of fresh cut napier grass (Penissetium purpureum)

This study was conducted to examine the effect of different levels of vetch hay (Vicia dasycarpa) supplementation on feed intake, milk yield and milk composition of 50:50 Boran-Freisian crossbred dairy cows fed a basal diet of napier grass (Penissetium purpureum). Five crossbred dairy cows at an early stage of lactation with average milk yield of 6 – 8 liters/cow/day and body weight of 390 ±15 kg (mean±STD) were arranged in a 5*5 latin square design. In the first 4 treatments, napier grass was fed ad libitum as basal diet, while in T5 (the control diet) native hay was the basal diet. In treatment 1, 2 and 3 vetch hay was supplemented at 20% (2.4 kg), 30% (3.6 kg) and 40% (4.8 kg) replacement of the total daily DM intake, respectively. In T4 and T5 concentrate mix (55% wheat bran, 43% noug seed cake (Gizotia abysinica) and 2% salt) was supplemented at the rate of 0.5 kg per liter of milk produced. Total dry matter intake differed among treatments in the order of T4>T3=T5>T2>T1. Milk yield was greater for concentrate supplemented treatments compared with the vetch supplemented ones, and was similar (P>0.05) among the different level of vetch supplemented groups. Milk fat and protein were not affected (P>0.05) by treatments. In general this study indicated that optimum milk production (8.81 liter/cow/day) can be obtained with the use of napier grass supplemented with 2.4 kg/cow/day vetch hay dry matter

SOME ASPECTS OF MALARIA PREVALENCE, VECTOR INFECTIVITY AND D DT RESIST AN CE STUDIES IN GAMBELIA REGION, SOUTHERN WESTERN ETHIOPIA

ABSTRACT: Prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax in thehuman population, infectivity and DDT resistance of Anopheles mosquitoes were studied on samples collected during the peak malaria season of 1990 from Gambella, South West Ethiopia. Mosquito vectors collected were assorted into species and their infectivity with malaria parasites was determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In the human population out of a total of 821 individuals examined from nine villages, 4.1% (34) were found to be positive for malaria parasites. Of the 34 positive individuals 5.9% (2) were positive for Plasmodium vivax and 94.1 (32) for Plasmodium falciparum. Although relatively high positivity rates for malaria were observed in 1-4 and 5-14 age groups, the difference in the rates of positivity was not statistically significant for the whole population (P = 0.5077). However, a significant difference in parasite prevalence was detected between the nine localities (P < 0.05). Compared to that of 1989, the overall malaria prevalence rate in the human population significantly decreased in 1990 (P < 0.05). Insecticide susceptibility studies revealed the presence of DDT resistant Anopheles gambiae s.l. mosquitos in Itang. Furthermore, a strong evidence would suspect the vectorial status of A. pharoensis was obtained by detecting salivary gland sporozoite antigens of P. vivax in the head region of two mosquitos. Sporozoite rates of 0.76% (P. falciparum) for A. gambiae s.l. and 0.47% (P. vivax) for A. pharoensis were determined. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1994;8(1):1-8

Variations in seed and post-harvest residue yields and residues quality of common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) as a ruminant feedstuff

Common bean is widely grown as a food legume and the post-harvest crop residues (CR) (i.e. haulm + pod wall (HPW)) are valuable as ruminant feedstuffs. The yields and constituents indicative of nutritive value for ruminants of the HPW from a wide range of common bean genotypes (G) were examined at 4 trial sites in Ethiopia during the 2013 main cropping season to assess the extent of genetic variation among G for simultaneous improvement of both HPW attributes and seed yield. Attributes measured were seed and HPW yields and the amounts of the morphological components, their concentrations of total nitrogen (N), neutral detergent fibre (aNDFom) and acid detergent fibre (ADFom), and the dry matter digestibility (DMD). The constituents were measured using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and calibrations based on a large set of reference tropical forages and CR (including common bean), and were validated against other CR reference samples. These CR quality attributes were very well predicted with R2v and RPDv ranging from 0.90 to 0.98 and 3.13–7.36, respectively. There was considerable variation in yields of HPW and seed, and in the proportions and attributes of the HPW fractions among the common bean G. Trial site means for yields of HPW and seed ranged from 0.74 to 2.54 t/ha and 0.79–2.62 t/ha, respectively while for N, aNDFom and ADFom concentrations and DMD of HPW ranged from 7.7 to 11.4 g/kg DM, 648–739 g/kg DM, 502–585 g/kg DM, and 467–570 g/kg DM, respectively. Environment (E), as represented by site, generally affected the yields of HPW and seed (P < 0.001) and nutritive value of the HPW fractions (P < 0.05) as feedstuffs. Seed yield was positively correlated with HPW yield both within and across trial sites (r = 0.92; P < 0.0001), but in general seed yield was not related to the N concentration. Across all sites, seed yield was positively correlated (r = 0.68; P < 0.0001) with haulm DMD. Although this correlation may be due to variation associated with E rather than G, it is nevertheless important in that selection for higher seed yield is likely to also increase metabolisable energy (ME) content of the HPW. There were G x E interaction effects on yields of HPW (P < 0.0001) and seed (P = 0.011), but these were generally less important than E effects which explained 52–58% of the variation. In conclusion the study demonstrated that it is possible to identify genotypes such as ECAB0081 which combine high yields of both seed and HPW, and with HPW attributes which improve their quality as ruminant feedstuffs

Ethiopian community health workers’ beliefs and attitudes towards children with autism: impact of a brief training intervention

There is a severe shortage of services for children with autism in Ethiopia; access to services is further impeded by negative beliefs and stigmatising attitudes towards affected children and their families. To increase access to services, care provision is decentralised through task-shifted care by community health extension workers (HEWs). This study aimed to examine the impact of a brief training (Health Education and Training; HEAT) for Ethiopian rural HEWs and comprised three groups: i) HEWs who completed a basic mental health training module (HEAT group, N=104); ii) HEWs who received enhanced training, comprising basic HEAT as well as video-based training on developmental disorders and a mental health pocket guide (HEAT+ group, N=97); iii) HEWs untrained in mental health (N=108). All participants completed a questionnaire assessing beliefs and social distance towards children with autism. Both the HEAT and HEAT+ group showed fewer negative beliefs and decreased social distance towards children with autism compared to the untrained HEW group, with the HEAT+ group outperforming the HEAT group. However, HEAT+ trained HEWs were less likely to have positive expectations about children with autism than untrained HEWs. These findings have relevance for task-sharing and scale up of autism services in low-resource settings worldwide

Breeding Sites of Aedes aegypti

Background and Objectives. Entomological survey was carried out from May-June to September-October 2014 to investigate the presence of dengue vectors in discarded tires and artificial water containers in houses and peridomestic areas. Methods. A cross-sectional immature stage survey was done indoors and outdoors in 301 houses. Mosquito larval sampling was conducted using pipette or dipper depending on container types. Larvae were identified morphologically and larval indices were also calculated. Results. A total of 750 containers were inspected, and of these 405 were positive for mosquito larvae. A total of 1,873 larvae were collected and morphologically identified as Aedes aegypti (n=1580: 84.4%) and Culex (n=293: 15.6%). The larval indices, house index, container index, and breteau index, varied from 33.3 to 86.2, from 23.2 to 73.9, and from 56.5 to 188.9, respectively. Conclusion. Aedes aegypti is breeding in a wide range of artificial containers. To control these mosquitoes, the integration of different methods should be taken into consideration

Effect of Retrapping on Thermoluminescence Peak Intensities of Small Amorphous Silicon Quantum Dots

The effect of retrapping on thermoluminescence intensity peak corresponding to each trap of small amorphous silicon quantum dots in three traps -one recombination center model is investigated. For first order kinetics, where there is no effect of retrapping, the thermoluminescence intensity clearly depends on the level of the trap beneath the edge of the conduction band. This energy difference between the edge of the conduction band and the level of the trap is called trap depth (activation energy). The shallowest trap gives the highest thermoluminescence intensity peak for first order kinetics. However, it was clearly observed that for second order and a case beyond second order kinetics, the thermoluminescence intensity peak corresponding to each trap does not depend on the trap depth. In this case, the retrapping probability coefficients are taken into account and most electrons which are detrapped from the shallow trap(s) will be retrapped to the deeper trap(s) resulting in fewer electrons taking part in the recombination process. This significantly reduces the thermoluminescence intensity peaks of the shallower trap(s). It was observed that the deepest trap, with very high concentration of electrons due to the retrapping phenomenon, gives the highest thermoluminescence intensity. In addition, the variation of concentration of electrons in each trap and the intensity of the thermoluminescence are presented. Though we considered the model of three traps and one recombination center, this phenomenon is true for any multiple traps