Background: Women’s empowerment significantly influences maternal and child health by enhancing access to healthcare and enabling autonomous reproductive decisions, including timely family planning during postpartum. However, in Ethiopia, the specific role of contraceptive empowerment in postpartum family planning (PPFP) use remains insufficiently studied despite the low level of women’s empowerment. Objective: To assess the effect of contraceptive empowerment on PPFP use in Ethiopia. Design: A community-based panel study design. Methods: We used the panel data from Performance Monitoring for Action Ethiopia (2021–2023), which followed 1759 pregnant women aged 15–49 years from four regions of Ethiopia. The analytic sample is restricted to non-pregnant women who completed the interview at 1 year postpartum. Contraceptive empowerment was assessed using five items on a 5‑point Likert scale, whereas PPFP use was measured through yes/no question regarding modern contraceptive use at 1 year postpartum. A mixed-effect multilevel multivariable logistic regression model was employed, and p -value of 0.05 was used to determine the statistical significance. Result: PPFP use at 12 months of postpartum is significantly higher among women reporting high and medium contraceptive empowerment during pregnancy, compared to low contraceptive empowerment (AOR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.3–2.6) and (AOR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.2–2.3) respectively. In addition, women whose birth was attended by a skilled birth attendant (AOR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.3–2.4), lower parity (1: AOR: 4.5, 95% CI: 2.5–8.1, 2–4: AOR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.3–3.3 compared to ⩾5), and those who previously used contraception (AOR: 3.8, 95% CI: 2.8–5.4) were more likely to use PPFP; women residing in Amhara (AOR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1–0.8) and Oromia regions (AOR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.1–0.8) had significantly lower use of PPFP. Conclusion: Contraceptive empowerment during pregnancy predicted PPFP use at 12 months of postpartum. Higher contraceptive empowerment at pregnancy significantly increases the use of PPFP at 1 year postpartum in Ethiopia. The findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to enhance contraceptive empowerment prior to, during, and after pregnancy; strengthen skilled birth attendance and address regional disparities for equitable and sustained PPFP use.

Background Fertility transition is essential for health and development, yet Ethiopia continues to face high fertility and rapid population growth. Due to limited evidence on macro-level derivers of fertility, this study assesses Ethiopia's readiness and implementation capacity for fertility transition, alongside structural and programmatic barriers. Method A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used, combining 14 key informant interviews with reviews of national policies and demographic data. Informants were purposively selected from Federal, Regional States, and Non-governmental institutions. Thematic and content analyses followed a predefined framework covering political commitment, legal and policy integration, institutional coordination, and implementation outcomes. NVivo 14 was used for coding, while policy texts and official speeches were systematically mapped and triangulated with fertility trends from national surveys and census data. Result Over the past three decades, Ethiopia has recognized the burden of high fertility, endorsed global agendas, prepared policies, and has achieved substantial expansion of services. Consequently, the CPR rose from less than 5% in 1990 to 42% in 2019, and the TFR dropped from 6.4 in 1990 to 4.1 in 2019. However, the transition is dominated by periodic declines without substantial changes in completed cohort fertility, preference for low fertility, and limiting behaviors, which are rooted in limited domestic political advocacy, weak multisectoral coordination, and blurring of the fertility, population, and development agenda from the family planning services. Slow development and economic transformation, pronatalist norms, and political instability can hamper further fertility decline. Conclusion Ethiopia's period fertility decline has been derived by supply and service expansions rather than a fundamental shift in preference for low fertility and the power to do so. Accelerating the transition and prevention of stalling requires reorienting the right-based family planning into informed, voluntary, and autonomous demand for low fertility, which integrates reproductive rights with development goals, through family planning-population-development nexus.

Background: Despite significant declines over the past two decades, Ethiopia continues to experience high rate of child mortality. While socioeconomic factors and high-risk fertility behaviors are well-established determinants, the independent effect of fertility decline remains underexplored. This study examines the impact of fertility decline-measured by the number of children ever born and the general fertility rate-on child survival in Ethiopia. Methods: Two data sources and analytic approaches were used: (1) decomposition analysis of United Nations data (2000-2020) to assess the contribution of fertility decline to reductions in under-five deaths and (2) a Probit regression model using the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data to estimate the effect of the number of children ever born on the survival probability of under-five children, adjusted for women's reproductive and other characteristics. Using complex survey analysis in Stata, the regression is done among 37,780 single and second-or higher-order births of under-five children pooled from five surveys (2000-2019). Results: Between 2000 and 2020, Ethiopia's general fertility rate declined from 208.5 to 135.5 per 1,000 women, while under-five mortality dropped from 141 to 45 per 1,000 live births. The decline in the general fertility rate contributed to 16.3% of the nearly 659,000 averted under-five deaths. At the micro level, each additional child was associated with a 1% (marginal effect =0.01, P=0.00) increase in survival probability, and children born to mothers with 2-4 children had approximately 4% (marginal effect = 0.04, P=0.00) higher survival compared to those with eight or more children. Conclusion: Lower fertility enhances child survival. Beyond reducing early childbearing and short birth intervals, promoting birth limitation and scaling up of the long-acting contraceptives are vital for further reducing child mortality.

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Background: High fertility and rapid population growth can threaten human development and increase risks to maternal and child health. The diffusion of the benefits of lower fertility requires readiness to plan, and willingness and ability to adopt and use family planning measures. Objective: This assessment aimed to explore the readiness, willingness, and ability (RWA) among selected Ethiopian communities, and identify the facilitators and impediments of fertility transition. Design: This exploratory phenomenological qualitative study collects data from purposefully selected community members and experts in Addis Ababa, Arbaminch, and Jigjiga. Method: The analysis follows deductive coding and a thematic presentation of findings under the RWA domains. Readiness deals with four themes: (1) the rationalization of the value of children, (2) recognition of the burden of high-risk fertility, (3) readiness to define the ideal number of children, and (4) socio-cultural norms about family size. Willingness contains three themes: (1) the psychosocial legitimacy of contraceptives, (2) the religious legitimacy of contraceptives, and (3) women’s power to cope with barriers to family planning. The ability domain contains (1) women’s knowledge about contraception and (2) access to and utilization of contraceptives. Results: The communities involved in this study recognized the burden of high-risk fertility behaviors (early-age fertility, and frequent and many births), but they prefer large family sizes. Consequently, they exhibit good family planning willingness and practice for birth spacing but not for birth limitation. Recognizing the socio-economic burden of high-risk fertility, accepting and using contraceptives for the health of mothers and children are possible facilitators of fertility transition. Conversely, the desire for high parity, husbands and religious disapproval of contraceptives, side effects of contraceptives, and limited access to method mix are possible impediments. Conclusion: The RWA to space births are adequately diffused and adopted by the community, but birth limitation is not yet recognized. Beyond promoting birth spacing, Ethiopia’s fertility transition requires a shift in societal values from large to small family size. Overcoming barriers to contraceptive use also requires tailored efforts to improve the availability of method mix and involve male and religious leaders.

PURPOSE:Evidence supports that the Health Belief Model (HBM) can explain and predicts certain health behaviors, including participation in cervical cancer (CC) screening. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a modified HBM for CC and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) in female healthcare professionals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2020.METHODS:Psychometric properties related to CC and VIA were tested using 42-item modified HBM self-administered questionnaire and a cross-sectional study design with simple random sampling. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett's sphericity test indicated that data sampling adequacy for exploratory factor analysis was 0.792 (χ2 = 3189.95, df = 351, p < .001). Items with cross-loading and factor loadings ≥ 0.5 were retained. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to determine model fit.RESULTS:The final analysis included 194 women, (mean age 30±4.34). Twelve items with ≤ 0.5 were removed and 30 retained items loaded into 6 factors; (benefits of VIA, perceived seriousness of CC, barrier (fear of negative outcome), self-efficacy, susceptibility to CC, and barriers (health system delivery)) explained 65% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha for the total instrument was 0.8 and reliability for the 6 subscales was 0.76-0.92. Composite reliability and average variance extracted indicated good internal consistency and convergent validity. CFA identified 6 additional items to be removed with high residual covariance. The final 24 items of the modified HBM had an acceptable model fit (goodness-of-fit index (GFI) = 0.861, adjusted GFI = 0.823, comparative fit index = 0.937, root mean square error of approximation = 0.059).CONCLUSION:The modified HBM for CC and VIA with 24 items had adequate psychometric properties and may be used by Ethiopian healthcare professionals for research or clinical purposes. To support external validity the updated 24 items tool is suggested for application in further study in different populations in Ethiopia.

Household air pollution is the major public health problem in developing countries. Pregnant women spent the majority of their time at home and are the most affected population by household air pollution. Exploring the perception of pregnant women on adverse health effects is important to enhance the mitigation strategies. Therefore, this study aim to explore the pregnant women’s perceptions about health effects of household air pollution in rural Butajira, Ethiopia. A phenomenological qualitative study design was conducted among 15 selected pregnant women. All interviews were carried out at the participants´ house and audio-recorded while housing and cooking conditions were observed and appropriate notes were taken for each. The collected data were transcribed verbatim and translated into the English language. Then, the data were imported into Open code software to manage the overall data coding processes and analyzed thematically. Study participants perceived that respiratory problems such as coughing, sneezing and asthma and eye problem were the major health problem caused by household air pollution among pregnant women. Study participants also mentioned asphyxiated, abortion, reduces weight, and hydrocephalus was caused by household air pollution on the foetus. Study participants perceived that financial inability, spouse negligence, autonomy and knowledge level of the women were the barriers to tackling household air pollution. Study participant also suggested that opening the door and window; using improved cookstove and reduce workload were the perceived solution for household air pollution. This study explores pregnant women’s perceptions on health effects of household air pollution. The finding of this study was important to deliver suitable intervention strategies to mitigate household air pollution. Therefore, educating the women on way of mitigating household air pollution, improving existing structure of the house and minimize the time to stay in the kitchen is important to mitigate household air pollution exposure.

BACKGROUND:Considerable proportions of pregnant women consume inadequately diversified diets in Ethiopia. On the other hand, women's empowerment is identified as a means of achieving maternal nutrition improvement. However, evidence on the relationship between multiple dimensions of women's empowerment and dietary diversity during pregnancy is limited in Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to assess the mediating effects of women's empowerment in the pathway between women's education and dietary diversity during pregnancy in West Shewa zone, Ethiopia. METHODS:A health facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,383 pregnant women in 2021. Dietary diversity was measured using the minimum dietary diversity for women (MDD-W) tool. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to identify and validate women's empowerment dimensions. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine the pathways linking pregnant women's education and empowerment to dietary diversity during pregnancy. RESULTS:From the latent dimensions of women's empowerment produced by factor analyses, pregnant women's education was directly associated with household decision-making power, psychological and time dimensions. In turn, household decision-making power, psychological and time dimensions were associated with dietary diversity during pregnancy. The direct relationship between pregnant women's education and dietary diversity was insignificant, but the total indirect effect and total effect were significant. Household decision-making power, psychological and time dimensions were significant mediators in the relationship between pregnant women's education and dietary diversity. However, economic dimension was related to neither pregnant women's education nor dietary diversity. CONCLUSION:This study highlights pregnant women with better education are more likely to be empowered in household decision-making, psychological and time dimensions; and those empowered pregnant women are more likely to consume more diverse diets, suggesting women's access to higher education could have a positive indirect effect on consumption of more diverse diets during pregnancy by empowering women in the study area.

BackgroundConsiderable proportions of pregnant women are affected by poor nutrition outcomes in Ethiopia. Women's empowerment, on the other hand, is highly recognized as a means to achieve better maternal nutrition outcomes. However, the role of pregnant women's empowerment in nutritional status during pregnancy has not been empirically examined in Ethiopia. This study aimed to address this gap.ObjectiveTo assess the association of individual and composite women's empowerment dimensions with pregnant women's nutrition outcomes in West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia.MethodsA health facility-based cross-sectional study was performed on 1,453 pregnant women living in West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia, in 2021. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on half of the samples to identify and validate dimensions of pregnant women's empowerment. The associations between pregnant women's empowerment dimensions and anemia status and mid upper arm circumference levels were examined by logistic regressions.ResultsComposite pregnant women's empowerment was positively associated with both anemia status and mid-upper-arm circumference level. The odds of not being anemic were higher among pregnant women empowered in economic [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.7, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.26, 2.22] and assertiveness (AOR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.46, 2.38) dimensions than those not empowered in these dimensions. Empowered pregnant women in household decision-making (AOR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.19, 2.22) and psychological (AOR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.85) dimensions had higher odds of having normal mid-upper-arm circumference measures than those not empowered in the respective dimensions. Communication and time dimensions were not significantly associated with any of the nutrition outcomes.ConclusionsThis study suggests that empowered pregnant women are nutritionally better off than their less empowered counterparts. This is also important in child health outcomes. Policies and programs that aim to improve maternal and child health in the study area need to consider interventions that promote the decision-making power, economic, psychological, and assertiveness dimensions of pregnant women.

Background : Infant birth weight is one of the major determinants of morbidity and mortality in children and adults. The proportion of low birth weight is 13% in Ethiopia, while macrosomia is rising over time. The importance of empowering women to achieve maternal and child health outcomes is highly acknowledged. Nevertheless, this aspect has not been sufficiently documented in Ethiopia. Objective: Th is study aimed to assess the effect of women's empowerment on the birth weight of infants in West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia. Methods: A health facility -based prospective follow-up study was conducted from January to December 2021. Multistage sampling was applied to enroll pregnant women in the study who were followed up until delivery. Women's empowerment data were collected using an interviewer -administered questionnaire. Analysis was performed among 1,165 mother -newborn pairs, where birth weight was abstracted from the mother's medical chart. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to validate the women's empowerment measuring tool. Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the direct effect of women's empowerment dimensions on birth weight. Results: From the four latent dimensions of women's empowerment, a positive association was found between pregnant women's household decision -making power and the birth weight of the infants they delivered (beta= 0.091, p=0.040), whereas higher economic empowerment of the women was related to delivering lower birth weight infants (beta= -0.444, p < 0.001). Pregnant women's psychological and time empowerment were not significantly associated with newborn birth weight. Conclusions: The findings of this study illustrated the substantial correlation between women's agency in decision -making realms and their economic independence with the birth weight of their offspring. Augmenting the influence wielded by women in decision -making processes may prove instrumental in augmenting infant birth weights. Nevertheless, the variegated results of this research underscore the imperative for a more comprehensive exploration of the mechanisms underlying the impact of diverse dimensions of women's empowerment on birth weight to optimize the efficacy of empowerment initiatives in safeguarding optimal infant birth weight outcomes. [ Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2023; 37(4)]

Background: Healthcare providers can serve as role models to facilitate a supportive environment that encourages women to utilize screening for cervical cancer. Equally important is that being a female healthcare professional does not prevent the risk of cervical cancer. Therefore, this study aims to assess the intention of screening with visual inspection of acetic acid (VIA) and its determinants among female healthcare professionals (HCPs), guided by the trans-theoretical model (TTM) of stages of behavior change. Method: A cross-sectional study design was used to test readiness for cervical screening among selected female HCPs. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The analysis included descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Result: Four hundred sixty female HCPs with a mean age of M=33.8, +5 years participated. The intention to participate in cervical cancer screening was 44.1%. Over (half 52% of the participants) had poor knowledge of cervical cancer and screening. Regarding the TTM stages of change, 46.5% of participants indicated being in the pre-contemplation phase, suggesting they had never a VIA screen and had no intention of being screened within the next six months. In the final logistic regression model, four factors, including age, being screened in the past three years, taking care of patients with cervical cancer, and having good to moderate knowledge of cervical cancer and screening, were statistically significant, with large odds ratios for their association with intention to screen. Conclusions: Most of the participants were in the pre-contemplation phase, and the limited knowledge health workers had about cervical cancer screening is worrisome. Intervening in the factors that affect intention for screening is vital to reducing barriers to cervical screening among female healthcare workers as well as the broader female population in Ethiopia. Providing cancer screening guidelines to all HCPs, regardless of their specialty, could be a key factor in lessening the burden of cervical cancer.

Not all COVID-19 deaths are officially reported, and particularly in low-income and humanitarian settings, the magnitude of reporting gaps remains sparsely characterized. Alternative data sources, including burial site worker reports, satellite imagery of cemeteries, and social media–conducted surveys of infection may offer solutions. By merging these data with independently conducted, representative serological studies within a mathematical modeling framework, we aim to better understand the range of underreporting using examples from three major cities: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Aden (Yemen), and Khartoum (Sudan) during 2020. We estimate that 69 to 100%, 0.8 to 8.0%, and 3.0 to 6.0% of COVID-19 deaths were reported in each setting, respectively. In future epidemics, and in settings where vital registration systems are limited, using multiple alternative data sources could provide critically needed, improved estimates of epidemic impact. However, ultimately, these systems are needed to ensure that, in contrast to COVID-19, the impact of future pandemics or other drivers of mortality is reported and understood worldwide.

Not all COVID-19 deaths are officially reported and, particularly in low-income and humanitarian settings the magnitude of such reporting gaps remain sparsely characterised. Alternative data sources, including burial site worker reports, satellite imagery of cemeteries and social-media-conducted surveys of infection, may offer solutions. By merging these data with independently conducted, representative serological studies within a mathematical modelling framework, we aim to better understand the range of under-reporting using the example of three major cities: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Aden (Yemen) and Khartoum (Sudan) during 2020. We estimate 69% - 100%, 0.8% - 8.0% and 3.0% - 6.0% of COVID-19 deaths were reported in these three settings, respectively. In future epidemics, and in settings where vital registrations systems are absent or limited, using multiple alternative data sources could provide critically-needed, improved estimates of epidemic impact. However, ultimately, functioning vital registration systems are needed to ensure that, in contrast to COVID-19, the impact of future pandemics or other drivers of mortality are reported and understood worldwide. One sentence summary We demonstrate the suitability of alternative data sources to assess the under-ascertainment of COVID-19 mortality. ### Competing Interest Statement ACG has received personal consultancy from HSBC, GSK and WHO related to COVID-19 epidemiology and from The Global Fund for non-COVID work. ACG is a non-remunerated member of scientific advisory boards for Moderna and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness. ### Funding Statement This work was supported by the NIHR HPRU in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, a partnership between PHE, University of Oxford, University of Liverpool and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine [grant number NIHR200907 supporting RM and CAD]; and the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis [grant number MR/R015600/1], which is jointly funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), under the MRC/FCDO Concordat agreement and is also part of the EDCTP2 programme supported by the European Union (EU). OJW is supported by a Schmidt Science Fellowship in partnership with the Rhodes Trust. This publication is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of financial assistance award U01GH002319. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data and code are provided at

Background Multi-month dispensing (MMD) of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is an integral component of differentiated HIV service delivery for people living with HIV (PLHIV). Although many countries have scaled up ART dispensing to 3-month intervals, Ethiopia was the first African country to implement six-month dispensing (6-MMD) at scale, introducing its Appointment Spacing Model (ASM) for people doing well on ART in 2017. As of June 2021, 51.4% (n = 215,101) of PLHIV on ART aged ≥ 15 years had enrolled in ASM. Since little is known about the benefits and challenges of ASM perceived by Ethiopian clients and their healthcare workers (HCWs), we explored how the ASM was being implemented in Ethiopia’s Oromia region in September 2019. Methods Using a parallel convergent mixed-methods study design, we conducted 6 focus groups with ASM-eligible enrolled clients, 6 with ASM-eligible non-enrolled clients, and 22 in-depth interviews with HCWs. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed and translated into English. We used thematic analysis, initially coding deductively, followed by inductive coding of themes that emerged from the data, and compared the perspectives of ASM-enrolled and non-enrolled clients and their HCWs. Results Participants enrolled in ASM and HCWs perceived client-level ASM benefits to include time and cost-savings, fewer work disruptions, reduced stigma due to fewer clinic visits, better medication adherence and improved overall health. Perceived health system-level benefits included improved quality of care, decongested facilities, reduced provider workloads, and improved record-keeping. Although non-enrolled participants anticipated many of the same benefits, their reasons for non-enrollment included medication storage challenges, concerns over less frequent health monitoring, and increased stress due to the large quantities of medicines dispensed. Enrolled participants and HCWs identified similar challenges, including client misunderstandings about ASM and initial ART stock-outs. Conclusions ASM with 6-MMD was perceived to have marked benefits for clients and health systems. Clients enrolled in the ASM and their HCWs had positive experiences with the model, including perceived improvements in efficiency, quality and convenience of HIV treatment services. The concerns of non-ASM enrolled participants suggest the need for enhanced client education about the model and more discreet and efficiently packaged ART and highlight that ASM is not ideal for all clients.

Background Organ/tissue donation and transplantation has been one of the successes of modern medicine.In Ethiopia, a considerable number of people lose their sight due to damage to their cornea. Despite the high demand, only a few people pledge their corneal tissue when they die.Health workers could play an exemplary role in motivating the general public toward the donation of corneal tissue.However, there is limited information about their attitude and intention toward corneal donation. This study aims to assess the intention of health workers toward corneal tissue donation using the Theory of Planned Behavior which is a robust model for predicting intentions toward behavior. Method: We conducted an institution based cross-sectional study among 595 health care workers selected randomly using a multistage sampling method in Addis Ababa.Data were collected using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to assess the demographic information with correlation and regression analysis to identify factors influencing health workers’ intention todonate corneal tissue in A.A, Ethiopia. Result: With a response rate of 94%, the median age of the respondents was 29 years SD ( + 5.45).A total of 311(52.3%), 417 (70.1%) and 304 (51.1%) were male, Orthodox Christians and never married respectively. Health workers had a neutral intention to donate their corneal tissue with a mean intention score of 9.07 (range: 3-15).The TPB explained 61.2% of the variation in the intention to donate corneal tissue among health workers. Perceived behavioral control (PBC) was found to be the strongest predictor of intention to donate corneal tissue (β= 0.411: CI (0.387, 0.580), with attitude (β= 0.234: CI (0.124, 0.219) and subjective norm (β= 0.136: CI (0.078, 0.250) being the second and third strongest predictors respectively. The partial eta squared values were 53.6%, 36.9% and 37.2% respectively, with respect to the above order. Conclusion: This study suggests that health workers did not decide to donate their corneal tissue upon death. Real inhibiting and facilitating factors that affect organ donation have more influence on health workers’ intention to donate their corneal tissue than their perception about corneal donation and the perceived social pressure on them to donate their corneal tissue. On the other hand previous experience was a strong predictor of intention where those who had Previous experiences of organ donation were intending to donate corneal tissue upon death.

BACKGROUND:Vertical transmission of HIV remains one of the most common transmission modes. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) decreases the risk of transmission to less than 2%, but maintaining adherence to treatment remains a challenge. Some of the commonly reported barriers to adherence to ART include stress (physical and emotional), depression, and alcohol and drug abuse. Integrating screening and treatment for psychological problem such as depression was reported to improve adherence. In this study, we sought to determine the prevalence of depression and its association with adherence to ART among HIV-positive pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) clinics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS:We conducted a cross-sectional survey from March through November 2018. Participants were conveniently sampled from 12 health institutions offering ANC services. We used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to screen for depression and the Center for Adherence Support Evaluation (CASE) Adherence index to evaluate adherence to ART. Descriptive statistics was used to estimate the prevalence of depression during third-trimester pregnancy and nonadherence to ART. A bivariate logistic regression analysis was used to get significant predictors for each of the two outcome measures. The final multivariable logistic regression analysis included variables with a P<0.25 in the bivariate logistic regression model; statistical significance was evaluated at P<0.05. RESULTS:We approached 397 eligible individuals, of whom 368 (92.7%) participated and were included in the analysis. Of the total participants, 175(47.6%) had depression. The participants' overall level of adherence to ART was 82%. Pregnant women with low income were twice more likely to have depression (AOR = 2.10, 95%CI = 1.31-3.36). Women with WHO clinical Stage 1 disease were less likely to have depression than women with more advanced disease (AOR = 0.16, 95%CI = 0.05-0.48). There was a statistically significant association between depression and nonadherence to ART (P = 0.020); nonadherence was nearly two times higher among participants with depression (AOR = 1.88, 95%CI = 1.08-3.27). CONCLUSION:We found a high prevalence of depression among HIV-positive pregnant women in the selected health facilities in Addis Ababa, and what was more concerning was its association with higher rates of nonadherence to ART adversely affecting the outcome of their HIV care. We recommend integrating screening for depression in routine ANC services.

Background: Research productivity is one of the scholarly achievement measures and is an essential criterion for academic promotions. In Ethiopia, eight universities have recently been identified as research universities. Although gender differences in research productivity may be diminishing over time, women are still underrepresented in academics. Aim: To determine potential sex differences in educational status, academic rank, and research productivity in research universities in Ethiopia. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the 2018/2019 academic year in four research universities. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS (Statistical software for social sciences) Version 25 and STATA software version 14. Percentage and t-test statistics was used to compare men's distribution versus women at each educational status, academic rank, and by research productivity measured by number of peer review articles published, and grants awarded. Results: Among 8,549 research university faculty members, only 1,410 (16.49%) were women. Men outnumbered women at all academic faculty ranks, and the difference increased with advancing academic rank. Statistical t-test finding revealed a significant female under-representation in the number of faculty members, publication of peer-reviewed articles and research grant awards. Conclusions: Men outnumbered women and had more publications as well as research grant awards. This inequity in research universities demands promoting the efforts to increase the number of female faculty members in academics and adopting a more systematic approach for equitable opportunities that enhance female research productivity. Future studies should explore peculiar barriers and opportunities in each discipline.

Background: Female academia makes up only a fifth of all faculty at Addis Ababa University, where only a few are actively engaged in research. With a belief that dedicated mentorship could bring positive change in research participation, a female-to-female mentorship group was established at the College of Health Sciences. Objective: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of mentorship in improving the research participation of young female academia from August 2016-April 2019. Methods: The implementation was instituted by establishing a female-only research working group to enhance the participation of young female faculty members who were newly employed in a relatively large number. The main interventions were the coupling of mentors and mentees based on their respective research areas for two hours' weekly lunchtime and providing need-based training and life skill talks by exemplary women. We used a desk review and written testimonies of the Group to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Results: Young academics of the Group started to author scientific articles while the mentors had increased their publication track. The Group won a competitive three-year research grant. from Addis Ababa University. Its visibility due to its research output has helped to attract more members and encouraged the establishment of other sister groups in the University. The Group has also received the best female research group award from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Conclusion: Female-to-female mentorship had helped researchers in their early careers to publish and won grants. This could be an exemplary intervention which only requires a commitment of staff time.

Despite their recognizable role in the political arena and resultant gender mainstreamed policies, women in Ethiopia face day-to-day obstacles to ensure gender equity, and academia is no exception. In the past few decades, higher education in Ethiopia has rapidly expanded, resulting in increased enrollment of female students and faculty employment in various academic fields. Although the progress in the sector is highly promising, ensuring gender equality has still been a significant challenge. Several studies have revealed different barriers to women's academic, leadership, and research participation in higher educational institutions in Ethiopia (1).