Harla Journal of Health and Medical Science

Prevalence of Stunting and Associated Factors among Children aged 6-59 Months in Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Communities in Adigala Woreda, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia

2025-09-23T08:02:31-08:00

Background: Stunting is as a height that is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization median child growth standard. Stunting is the commonest reason for pediatrics hospital admission. Ethiopia is one of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa with the highest rate of stunting. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of stunting and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months in Sitti zone Adigala Woreda, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from June 1 to 30, 2024 in Adigala woreda. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 415 children aged 6-59 months with mothers or caregivers. Data were collected using pre-tested structured questionnaire. Data were entered into Epi-data 3.1. Data were cleaned and analyzed using SPSS for windows version 20. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all study variables. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were done and the results of the Adjusted Odds Ratio with 95% confidence intervals and P< 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: The prevalence of stunting in this study was 84 (20.2%) (95% CI: 16.5, 24.4). Low average monthly family income (AOR: 3.11, 95% CI: 1.52, 5.39), large family size (>5) (AOR: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.21, 4.27), and not exclusive breast feeding (AOR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.07, 3.64) were significantly associated with child stunting.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the prevalence stunting was high and still a severe public health problem in the study area based on the WHO cutoff point. Low average monthly family income, not exclusively breast-fed children, and living in a large size family (>5) were independent predictors of stunting. Therefore, improving household economic conditions and limiting the number of children need to be considered for reducing stunting among children. It is also crucial to give due emphasis for interventions related to infant and young child feeding with special emphasis for exclusive breast feeding.

Uncontrolled hypertension and associated factors among adult hypertensive patients in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia, 2024:

2025-09-23T08:15:24-08:00

Early Delivery Decision, Delivery Complication and Its Associated Factors Among Mothers Who Underwent Emergency Cesarean Section in Dire Dawa Health Facilities:

2025-09-23T08:35:06-08:00

Background: The unpredictable nature of childbirth is why emergency obstetric care has been called the keystone in the arch of safe motherhood. Knight defines the third delay as failure to receive adequate and appropriate care once a mother reaches a health facility. The objective of this study was to assess the current average decision-to-delivery interval for emergency cesarean sections (EmCS) and to propose an optimum, realistic, and feasible time frame within which caesarean sections should be performed following the decision.

Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was carried out from March to June 2024 in Dire Dawa city hospitals, Eastern Ethiopia. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select 414 study participants. The collected data was entered into the Kobo tool and then exported into SPSS version 25.0 for data analysis. Then, binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify the association between dependent and independent variables at a confidence interval of 95% and a significance level of P-value < 0.05.

Results: A total of 405 women who underwent emergency cesarean section were recruited. The median decision delivery interval was 65 (35, 115) minutes. Only 57 (14.1%) with (95% CI: 10.67, 17.48) of EmCS were operated within 30 min from decision time. Need to stabilize (AOR = 3.017, 95% CI: 1.004, 9.06); week of working day (AOR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.006, 7.22); anesthesia time (AOR = 2.914, 95% CI: 1.24, 6.81); and presence of materials (AOR = 4.05, 95% CI: 1.64, 9.96) were positively associated with the decision to delivery interval.

Conclusion: Decision-to-delivery interval within the recommended time is not achieved. Being a marital status, antenatal care follow-up, place of residency, patient need for stabilization, material in the labor ward, and week of the day emergency cesarean section was performed are associated factors of the decision-to-delivery interval. So that all health professionals need to engage in improving the decision-to-delivery interval by designing different strategies for patients who need stabilization before operation, the health providers facilitate the antenatal care follow-up.

Magnitude and Associated Factors of Congenital Anomalies Among Newborns Delivered at Public Hospitals in Dire Dawa, Eastern, Ethiopia, 2022

2025-09-23T08:41:41-08:00

Predictors of Survival Status Among Children on Antiretroviral Treatment at Dilchora Referral Hospital, Eastern Ethiopia:

2025-09-23T08:49:05-08:00

Background: Despite expanded HIV care saving millions of children, over 1.6 million new infections occur annually, and child mortality remains high. Evidence on context-specific risk factors for mortality among children with HIV is limited. This study aimed to identify predictors of mortality among children on ART in Eastern Ethiopia.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 362 randomly selected pediatric ART records at Dilchora Referral Hospital (2017–2021). Data were collected from ART registers, intake forms, and follow-up charts. Descriptive statistics, life tables, Kaplan-Meier survival curves with log-rank tests, and Cox proportional hazards regression were used. Variables with p < 0.25 in bivariate analysis and clinically relevant factors were included in multivariable Cox regression. Crude and adjusted hazard ratios (AHR) with 95% CIs were reported; p < 0.05 indicated statistical significance.

Results: A total of 343 children were followed retrospectively for a median survival time of 80 months. During treatment, 57 (16.6%) (95% CI: 12.2, 20.8) of the children died. The hazard of death was highest during the first three years after ART initiation and declined thereafter, with nearly half of the deaths (28) occurring in the first year. The key predictors of mortality obtained from the study were wasting (AHR = 1.67, 95% CI: 0.90, 3.09), anemia (AHR = 1.72, 95% CI: 0.93, 3.17), advanced WHO clinical stage (AHR = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.08, 7.47), immunologic failure (AHR = 3.49, 95% CI: 1.79, 6.82), poor ART adherence (AHR = 2.36, 95% CI: 1.01, 5.50), and delayed or poor developmental milestones (AHR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.15, 4.28). The adherence is influenced by multiple factors, including caregiver support, child behavior, and healthcare system engagement.

Conclusion: Mortality among children living with HIV remains a significant public health concern and is strongly associated with wasting, advanced disease stage, immunologic decline, poor adherence to ART, and delayed developmental milestones. Targeted interventions addressing these factors are critical to improving child survival.