Micropropagation of banana varieties (Musa spp.) using shoot-tip culture

A study was carried out at the Tissue Culture Laboratory of Melkassa Agricultural Research Centre, Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) to investigate the effects of different types and concentrations of cytokinins and auxins on shoot initiation and multiplication, and in vitro shoot rooting of three banana varieties using shoot-tip explants. Shoot initiation was greater on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with 3 mg/l N6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) for Dwarf and Giant Cavendish while 2 mg/l for Poyo varieties. Among the different concentrations of plant growth regulators (PGR) tested, MS medium supplemented with combinations of BAP and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) at 3+0.4, 4+0.4 and 3+0.2 mg/l for Dwarf, Giant and Poyo respectively, were best combinations for high rates of shoot proliferation and elongation. Further multiplication of shoots required up to 5 times subculturing of 1 month each on the same media combination. In this study, about 3-fold multiplication rate was achieved during every subculture. Better rooting was obtained when the shoots were cultured on MS medium with 2.12 mg/l α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) for Dwarf and Giant while 1.74 mg/l indol-3-butyric acid (IBA) for Poyo. In vitro rooted plantlets were transferred to the lathouse for acclimatization and hardening. The best growth was recorded for plantlets transplanted on potting media containing a 3:1 ratio (v/v) of sugarcane filter cake and sand. The hardened plants were transferred and well established to the field.Keywords: Bananas, Musa spp., micropropagation, shoot-tip, plant growth regulator

Grouping of environments for testing navy bean in Ethiopia

Common bean variety selection within its production environment is often challenged by the occurrence of significant genotype-by-environment interactions (GEI) in the variety development process. Grain yield performance of 16 navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) lines was tested in a multi-environment variety trial during 2010 and 2011 main growing seasons of Ethiopia. Field experiments were conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications in 14 rainfed environments of the major common bean growing areas. The objectives were to assess the line by environment interactions (LEI), determine stable genotypes, and grouping of test environments. Significant differences were found among the lines for grain yield on each environment and combined over environments. The combined analysis of variance across environments indicated that both environment and LE interactions were significantly influenced lines yield. All interactions in relation to L×E showed high significant difference (P<0.01) for grain yield. Statistical methods as AMMI, GGE and some stability parameters were used to describe the LE interaction and to define stable lines in relation to their yield. The highest yield (2435 kg ha-1) was obtained from the line ICA BUNSI X SXB 405/1C-C1-1C-87. The stability analysis also identified lines ICA BUNSI X SXB 405/1C-C1-1C-87 and ICA BUNSI X SXB 405/1C-C1-1C- 37 as the most stable lines. Lines identified as superior differed significantly from the standard varieties and can be recommended for use by farmers in the bean growing areas of Ethiopia. Cluster analysis, based on grouping of locations showed that Melkassa, Alemtena and Haramaya as potential and high yielding, but Jimma, Bako, Pawe, Areka, Assosa and Sirinka as low to medium yielding locations

Ethiopia gender survey: A study in seven regions

“Ethiopia Gender Survey: A Study in Seven Regions” is a 2009 population-based survey. Over 8,000 Ethiopian women aged 15 to 49 were interviewed to examine a better understanding of HIV behavior, gender issues and reproductive health in Ethiopia. The information serves as the baseline survey for four initiatives in Ethiopia related to adolescent health and development, gender-based violence, women’s empowerment, and female genital cutting/ mutilation

Ethiopia young adult survey: A study in seven regions

This report details a survey in Ethiopia that provides a baseline for four new initiatives, including programs devoted to adolescent and youth health and development, gender-based violence, women’s/girls’ empowerment, and female genital cutting/mutilation. The Population Council research contributes to up-to-date and nuanced understandings of HIV behavior, gender issues, and reproductive health among young people in seven regions of Ethiopia. The survey findings underscore the differing experiences of boys and girls as well as the varying conditions in urban and rural areas of Ethiopia; tailored strategies are needed to reach rural boys, rural girls, urban boys, and urban girls. In addition, young people in special circumstances, such as disabled youth, street youth, and young women in commercial sex work, exhibit widely varying experiences. The report outlines myths, realities, and recommendations based on the survey results

Embed capacity development within all global health research

Summary box • All countries, including low- and middle-income countries, need robust health research capacity • The research capacity gap between global North and South is closing too slowly, and governments, funders, and academic institutions are not investing sufficiently to bridge this chasm • With two examples from collaborative research projects in sub-Saharan Africa, we illustrate how capacity development can be an integrated part of a joint research effort supported by all involved institutions • We advocate that research capacity development be valued as highly as evidence generation and be embedded in all global health researc

Embed capacity development within all global health research.

Summary box • All countries, including low- and middle-income countries, need robust health research capacity • The research capacity gap between global North and South is closing too slowly, and governments, funders, and academic institutions are not investing sufficiently to bridge this chasm • With two examples from collaborative research projects in sub-Saharan Africa, we illustrate how capacity development can be an integrated part of a joint research effort supported by all involved institutions • We advocate that research capacity development be valued as highly as evidence generation and be embedded in all global health researc

Does a complex intervention targeting communities, health facilities and district health managers increase the utilisation of community-based child health services? A before and after study in intervention and comparison areas of Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Ethiopia successfully reduced mortality in children below 5 years of age during the past few decades, but the utilisation of child health services was still low. Optimising the Health Extension Programme was a 2-year intervention in 26 districts, focusing on community engagement, capacity strengthening of primary care workers and reinforcement of district accountability of child health services. We report the intervention's effectiveness on care utilisation for common childhood illnesses. METHODS: We included a representative sample of 5773 households with 2874 under-five children at baseline (December 2016 to February 2017) and 10 788 households and 5639 under-five children at endline surveys (December 2018 to February 2019) in intervention and comparison areas. Health facilities were also included. We assessed the effect of the intervention using difference-in-differences analyses. RESULTS: There were 31 intervention activities; many were one-off and implemented late. In eight districts, activities were interrupted for 4 months. Care-seeking for any illness in the 2 weeks before the survey for children aged 2-59 months at baseline was 58% (95% CI 47 to 68) in intervention and 49% (95% CI 39 to 60) in comparison areas. At end-line it was 39% (95% CI 32 to 45) in intervention and 34% (95% CI 27 to 41) in comparison areas (difference-in-differences -4 percentage points, adjusted OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.12 to 1.95). The intervention neither had an effect on care-seeking among sick neonates, nor on household participation in community engagement forums, supportive supervision of primary care workers, nor on indicators of district accountability for child health services. CONCLUSION: We found no evidence to suggest that the intervention increased the utilisation of care for sick children. The lack of effect could partly be attributed to the short implementation period of a complex intervention and implementation interruption. Future funding schemes should take into consideration that complex interventions that include behaviour change may need an extended implementation period. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN12040912

Measuring routine childhood vaccination coverage in 204 countries and territories, 1980-2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2020, Release 1

Background Measuring routine childhood vaccination is crucial to inform global vaccine policies and programme implementation, and to track progress towards targets set by the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) and Immunization Agenda 2030. Robust estimates of routine vaccine coverage are needed to identify past successes and persistent vulnerabilities. Drawing from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2020, Release 1, we did a systematic analysis of global, regional, and national vaccine coverage trends using a statistical framework, by vaccine and over time. Methods For this analysis we collated 55 326 country-specific, cohort-specific, year-specific, vaccine-specific, and dosespecific observations of routine childhood vaccination coverage between 1980 and 2019. Using spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression, we produced location-specific and year-specific estimates of 11 routine childhood vaccine coverage indicators for 204 countries and territories from 1980 to 2019, adjusting for biases in countryreported data and reflecting reported stockouts and supply disruptions. We analysed global and regional trends in coverage and numbers of zero-dose children (defined as those who never received a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis [DTP] vaccine dose), progress towards GVAP targets, and the relationship between vaccine coverage and sociodemographic development. Findings By 2019, global coverage of third-dose DTP (DTP3; 81.6% [95% uncertainty interval 80.4-82 .7]) more than doubled from levels estimated in 1980 (39.9% [37.5-42.1]), as did global coverage of the first-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV1; from 38.5% [35.4-41.3] in 1980 to 83.6% [82.3-84.8] in 2019). Third- dose polio vaccine (Pol3) coverage also increased, from 42.6% (41.4-44.1) in 1980 to 79.8% (78.4-81.1) in 2019, and global coverage of newer vaccines increased rapidly between 2000 and 2019. The global number of zero-dose children fell by nearly 75% between 1980 and 2019, from 56.8 million (52.6-60. 9) to 14.5 million (13.4-15.9). However, over the past decade, global vaccine coverage broadly plateaued; 94 countries and territories recorded decreasing DTP3 coverage since 2010. Only 11 countries and territories were estimated to have reached the national GVAP target of at least 90% coverage for all assessed vaccines in 2019. Interpretation After achieving large gains in childhood vaccine coverage worldwide, in much of the world this progress was stalled or reversed from 2010 to 2019. These findings underscore the importance of revisiting routine immunisation strategies and programmatic approaches, recentring service delivery around equity and underserved populations. Strengthening vaccine data and monitoring systems is crucial to these pursuits, now and through to 2030, to ensure that all children have access to, and can benefit from, lifesaving vaccines. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Determinants of nutritional status among primary school students in Dilla Town; Application of an ordinal logistic regression model

Background: One of the most frequent reasons for children’s poor physical and mental development is malnutrition, becoming a more significant issue in most developing nations, including Ethiopia. Prior research used multiple anthropometric measurements separately to pinpoint undernutrition concerns in children. However, the impact of each explanatory variable on a single response category was not considered in these investigations. This study used a single composite index of anthropometric parameters to identify the factors affecting elementary school students' nutritional condition. Methods: In Dilla, Ethiopia, 494 primary school students took part in a cross-sectional institutional survey during the 2021 academic year. Principal component analysis was used to create a single composite measure of nutritional status using z-scores for the anthropometric indices of height-for-age and body mass index-for-age. The relative effectiveness of a partial proportional odds model was compared with several other ordinal regression models to identify the important variables for children’s nutritional status. Results: 27.94% of primary school students were undernourished (7.29% severely and 20.65% moderately). According to the fitted partial proportional odds model, the mother’s education level (secondary or higher) was positively correlated with the nutritional status of primary school students, given that in this case the students ate three or more times per day and had a high dietary diversity score (OR = 5.94; CI: 2.2–16.0). Nevertheless, there was a negative correlation between larger family size (OR = 0.56; CI: 0.32–0.97), unprotected groundwater (OR = 0.76; CI: 0.6–0.96), and severely food insecure households (OR = 0.3; CI: 0.14–0.68). Conclusion: In Dilla, Ethiopia, undernutrition among primary school students is a serious issue. It is essential to implement nutrition education and school feeding programs, improve drinking water sources, and boost the community’s economy to alleviate the problems