Status In Ethiopia Research Articles

Prevalence, spatial variation and determinants of zero-dose children in Ethiopia: Spatial and multilevel analyses

ObjectivesVaccination is a crucial public health intervention protecting individuals and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases. However, unvaccinated children in low- and middle-income countries pose a significant challenge. Ethiopia, a Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI)-supported country, ranks fifth in zero-dose immunisation burden, indicating concerning vaccine coverage gaps. Despite the severity of this issue, there is a dearth of research investigating the disparities, prevalence and contributing factors associated with zero-dose children in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess the prevalence, spatial distribution and determinants of zero-dose children in Ethiopia. Study designA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey (EMDHS). Data were collected from 21 March 2019 to 28 June 2019. MethodsThe study included a total of 1334 children aged 12–35 months (weighted sample). For spatial and multilevel analyses, ArcGIS 10.8 and Stata 17 software were used, respectively. The measure of association was determined by computing the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) at a 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI), and a p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. ResultsThe prevalence of zero-dose children in Ethiopia was 46.5 % (95 % CI: 43.8, 49.2). Southeast Amhara, Afar, Somali, Oromia and SNNPR (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region) regions had high zero-dose proportions. Maternal age 15–19 years (AOR = 1.63; 95 % CI: 1.05, 2.64), lack of antenatal care (AOR = 1.77; 95 % CI: 1.34, 2.35), rural residence (AOR = 1.94; 95 % CI: 1.17, 3.19) and region were significantly associated to zero-dose status in Ethiopia. ConclusionsThe prevalence of zero-dose children in Ethiopia was high and the distribution exhibited significant variation across the country's clusters. Individual and community factors were key contributors. It is essential that areas with a high prevalence of zero-dose children have access to recommended childhood vaccines. This proactive approach can help protect children from morbidity and mortality caused by vaccine-preventable diseases.

Gender wage gap and child malnutrition in Ethiopia: A probit instrumental variable method

Objective: Child malnutrition is a widespread concern in Sub-Saharan Africa. Previous studies mainly focus on the association between women's employment status and child malnutrition, however, the aim of this study is to examine the causal effect of household gender wage gap on child malnutrition in Ethiopia.Methods: This study relies on a data set consisting of 2066 children under 5 years of age using 2018/19 Living Standards Measurement Study data for Ethiopia. A probit instrumental variable (IV) method is applied to determine the causal effect.Results: Persistent gender wage gap of approximately 35% has been observed across various sectors in Ethiopia. Estimated results show that the decrease in household gender wage gap significantly enhances child growth outcomes, especially for younger girls and children in households with limited access to market. Specifically, one percentage point increase in gender wage gap is associated with a 0.74% (p<0.05) increase in the probability of stunting and a 0.42% (p<0.05) increase in the likelihood of wasting. Three mechanisms have been identified as contributing factors: more allocation of health resources to children, improved dietary diversity in the household, and increased household income.Conclusions: Policy interventions aiming at improving the children nutrition status in Ethiopia are expected to narrow down gender wage inequality accordingly. Further research is needed to explore the association using reliable and large-scale data source in other countries.

Residential and wealth-related disparities of high fertility preferences in Ethiopia: A decomposition analysis.

Fertility preference significantly influences contraceptive uptake and impacts population growth, especially in low and middle-income countries. In the previous pieces of literature, variations in fertility preference across residence and wealth categories and its contributors were not assessed in Ethiopia. Therefore, we decomposed high fertility preferences among reproductive-aged women by residence and wealth status in Ethiopia. We extracted individual women's record (IR) data from the publicly available 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey (EDHS) dataset. A total of 13799 women were included in the study. Multivariate decomposition analysis was conducted to identify the factors that contributed to the differences in the percentage of fertility preferences between rural and urban dwellers. Furthermore, we used an Erreygers normalized concentration index and curve to identify the concentration of high fertility preferences across wealth categories. The concentration index was further decomposed to identify the contributing factors for the wealth-related disparities in high fertility preference. Finally, the elasticity of wealth-related disparity for a change in the socioeconomic variable was estimated. The weighted percentage of women with high fertility preference among rural and urban residents was 42.7% and 19%, respectively, reflecting a 23.7 percentage point difference. The variations in fertility preference due to the differences in respondents' characteristics accounted for 40.9%. Being unmarried (8.4%), secondary (14.1%) and higher education (21.9%), having more than four children (18.4%), having media exposure (6.9%), middle (0.4%), richer (0.2%) and richest (0.1%) wealth were the positive and city administration (-30.2%), primary education (-1.3%) were the negative contributing factors for the variations in high fertility preferences due to population composition. Likewise, about 59% of the variations in fertility preference were due to variations in coefficients. City administration (22.4%), primary (7.8%) and secondary (7.4%) education, poorer wealth (0.86%) were the positive and having media exposure (-6.32%) and being unmarried (-5.89%), having more than four children (-2.1%) were the negative factors contributing to the difference in high fertility preferences due to the change in coefficients across residents. On the other hand, there was a pro-poor distribution for high fertility preferences across wealth categories with Erreygers normalized concentration index of ECI = -0.14, SE = 0.012. Having media exposure (17.5%), primary (7.3%), secondary (5.4%), higher (2.4%) education, being unmarried (8%), having more than four children (7.4%), rural residence (3%) and emerging (2.2%) were the positive and city administration (-0.55) was the negative significant contributor to the pro-poor disparity in high fertility preference. The variations in high fertility preferences between rural and urban women were mainly attributed to changes in women's behavior. In addition, substantial variations in fertility preference across women's residences were explained by the change in women's population composition. In addition, a pro-poor distribution of high fertility preference was observed among respondents. As such, the pro-poor high fertility preference was elastic for a percent change in socioeconomic variables. The pro-poor high fertility preference was elastic (changeable) for a percent change in each socioeconomic variables. Therefore, women's empowerment through education and access to media will be important in limiting women's desire for more children in Ethiopia. Therefore, policymakers should focus on improving the contributing factors for the residential and wealth-related disparities in high fertility preferences.

Socioeconomic inequality in adults undertaking HIV testing over time in Ethiopia based on data from demographic and health surveys.

HIV testing is the entry point to HIV prevention, care and treatment and needs continuous evaluation to understand whether all social groups have accessed services equally. Addressing disparities in HIV testing between social groups results in effective and efficient response against HIV prevention. Despite these benefits, there was no previous study on inequality and determinants over time in Ethiopia. Thus, the objective of this research was to examine socioeconomic inequality in individuals undertaking HIV testing over time, allowing for the identification of persistent and emerging determinants. Data sources for the current study were the 2011 and 2016 Ethiopian Demographic Health Surveys. The 2016 population health survey is the one that Ethiopia used to set national AIDS response strategies; there was no other recent survey with HIV/AIDS-related indicators in Ethiopia. The final sample size for the current study was 28,478 for the year 2011 and 25,542 for the year 2016. The concentration curve and Erreygers' concentration index were used to estimate socioeconomic inequality in HIV testing. Subsequently, decomposition analysis was performed to identify persistent and emerging contributors of socioeconomic inequality. Generalized linear regression model with the logit link function was employed to estimate the marginal effect, elasticity, Erreygers' concentration index (ECI), and absolute and percentage contributions of each covariate. The concentration curve was below the line of equality over time, revealing the pro-rich inequality in HIV testing. The inequality was observed in both 2011 (ECI = 0.200) and 2016 (ECI = 0.213). A household wealth rank had the highest percentage contribution (49.2%) for inequality in HIV testing in 2011, which increased to 61.1% in 2016. Additional markers include listening to the radio (13.4% in 2011 and 12.1% in 2016), education status (8.1% in 2011 and 6.8% in 2016), and resident (-2.0% in 2011 and 6.3% in 2016). Persistent determinants of individuals undertaking HIV testing were age 20-34 years, geographic region, education status, marital status, religion, income, media exposure (listening to the radio, reading newspaper, watching television), knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and attitudes towards people living with HIV. Age between 35 and 44 years and urban residence emerged as new associated factors in 2016. The higher HIV testing coverage was among individuals with higher socioeconomic status in Ethiopia. Socioeconomic inequality amongst individuals undertaking HIV testing was diverging over time. Household wealth rank, mass media exposure, education status, and resident took the largest share in explaining the disparity in individuals undertaking HIV testing between the lower and higher income groups. Therefore, interventions to equalise HIV testing coverage should take account of these determinants.

Livestock Marketing Effect on Pastoralist Community's Economic Status in Ethiopia: Mediation by Market Intermediaries

Livestock Marketing Effect on Pastoralist Community's Economic Status in Ethiopia: Mediation by Market Intermediaries

Avian Infectious Bronchitis Virus: Molecular Detection in Southwestern Ethiopia Chickens.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a significant threat to poultry worldwide, but its status in Ethiopia remains understudied. Thus, this study aimed to detect the virus and associated risk factors in South West Ethiopia. Ninety oropharyngeal swab samples were purposively collected from symptomatic chickens located in Jimma town, Seqa Chekorsa, and Tiro Afeta woredas of the Jimma zone between November 2021 and April 2022 to detect IBV virus by using RT-PCR. A side-by-side questionnaire was administered to assess risk factors. Total RNA was extracted, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was conducted, and products were visualized under UV light. The overall proportion of IBV was 16.6% (15/90). No statistical association was observed between any of the animal risk factors and the detection of the virus (P=0.57, 0.586, and 1). However, the proportion of birds infected by the virus was higher in males, exotic breeds, and adults compared to females, local breeds, and young birds. Similarly, none of the management risk factors had a significantly different effect on virus detection (P=0.25, 0.09, 0.088, and 0.726). However, improper carcass disposal (OR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.13-1.4), lack of veterinary services (OR = 2.7, 95% CI: 0.8-8.3), and the presence of wild birds/rodents (OR = 4.4, 95% CI: 0.88-22.3) were associated with increased IBV risk but not cleaning of feeders/drinkers (OR = 1.1, 95% CI: 0.2-4.8). These findings underscore the need for enhanced biosecurity practices and further research to implement informed IBV control strategies in Ethiopia.

Review on Rational Use of Veterinary Drugs and Its Status in Ethiopia

Review on Rational Use of Veterinary Drugs and Its Status in Ethiopia

Implementation Status and Challenges of Pharmacovigilance Program in Ethiopia: A Mixed-Methods Study

Functional pharmacovigilance systems are vital to ensure patient safety. There is a paucity of information on the organizational functionality of pharmacovigilance program in Ethiopia. This study assessed the pharmacovigilance programs and its implementation status in Ethiopia. A mixed study design was employed to assess pharmacovigilance functionality in hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and the National Regulatory Authority. World Health Organization’s Pharmacovigilance Indicators and Key Informant Interview Guide were used for data collection. Quantitative data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel (2013), while thematic analysis was used for qualitative study. Of the 30 hospitals covered, only one had a Pharmacovigilance Unit with a dedicated budget, three (10%) had assigned staff, and seven (23.3%) had implemented Standard Operating Procedures. Similarly, 4 (12.5%) of the 32 pharmaceutical companies had separate pharmacovigilance divisions, 12 (37.5%) had a regulatory affairs unit, and 5 (15.6%) had a pharmacovigilance budget. The National Pharmacovigilance Center has the most structure, process, and pharmacovigilance practices. Resource constraints and a weak reporting system were identified as major challenges, while patient harm, loss of confidence, increased circulation of unsafe products, and economic costs were reported as consequences. Increasing training, engaging stakeholders, and improving the regulatory system were recommended as key interventional strategies. Most hospitals and pharmaceutical companies lack most of pharmacovigilance system indicators. However, the national regulatory authority fulfilled most of the elements of Pharmacovigilance systems.

Multinomial-Multilevel Analysis of the Duration of Breastfeeding Status in Ethiopia

Multinomial-Multilevel Analysis of the Duration of Breastfeeding Status in Ethiopia

Spatial distribution, magnitude, and predictors of high fertility status among reproductive age women in Ethiopia: Further analysis of 2016 Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey.

Women's health and welfare, as well as the survival of their children, are adversely affected by high fertility rates in developing countries. The fertility rate in Ethiopia has been high for a long time, with some pockets still showing poor improvement. Thus, the current study is aimed to assess the spatial distribution and its predictors of high fertility status in Ethiopia. Secondary data analysis was used using the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). The Bernoulli model was used by applying Kulldorff methods using the SaTScan software to analyze the purely spatial clusters of high fertility status. ArcGIS version 10.8 was used to visualize the distribution of high fertility status across the country. Mixed-effect logistic regression analysis was also used to identify the predictors of high fertility. High fertility among reproductive-age women had spatial variation across the country. In this study, a higher proportion of fertility occurred in Somali region, Southeastern part of Oromia region, and Northeastern part of SNNPR. About 45.33% (confidence interval: (44.32, 46.33) of reproductive-age women had high fertility. Education; no formal (aOR: 13.12, 95% CI: 9.27, 18.58) and primary (aOR: 5.51, 95% CI: 3.88, 7.79), religion; Muslim (aOR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.28, 1.81) and Protestant (aOR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.23, 1.78), age at first birth (aOR: 2.94, 95% CI: 2.61, 3.31), age at first sex (aOR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.49, 1.93), rural resident (aOR: 3.76, 95% CI: 2.85, 4.94) were predictors of high fertility in Ethiopia. The spatial pattern of high fertility status in Ethiopia is clustered. Hotspot areas of a problem were located in Somali, Central Afar, Northeastern part of SNNPR, and Southeastern part of Oromia region. Therefore, designing a hotspot area-based interventional plan could help to reduce high fertility. Moreover, much is needed to be done among rural residents, reducing early sexual initiations and early age at first birth, and enhancing women's education. All the concerned bodies including the kebele administration, religious leaders, and community leaders should be in a position to ensure the practicability of the legal age of marriage.

Clinical competency and associated factors among undergraduate nursing students studying in universities of Southern regional state of Ethiopia, 2021

BackgroundClinical practice is the means by which nursing students learn to apply the theory, facilitating integration of theoretical knowledge and practical skill in the clinical setting which becomes arts and science of profession. This correlation of theory and practice, and the building of meaningful experience, take place during clinical practice in the health care service. Even though, nursing students need to have clinical competency during practical setting, there were little available evidences regarding to their competency status in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was aimed to assess magnitude of clinical competency and its predictors among undergraduate nursing students studying in universities of Southern regional state of Ethiopia in 2021 G C. MethodsMulti-centered institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted among 414 undergraduate nursing students studying in eight universities of Southern regional state of Ethiopia in 2021 academic year. Systematic random sampling technique after proportional allocation to each selected university was used to select the study participants. Data were collected using pretested structured questionnaire by face to face interview after written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Data were cleaned, coded and entered into Epidata version 3.01 and analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) software version 26. Descriptive statistic for all variables and bi-variable and multi-variables logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with clinical competency was computed and expressed in odds ratio. The result was presented in the form of text, tables and figures and those variables with P-value of <0.05 in multivariable analysis were declared as statistically significant. ResultFrom 423 total calculated sample sizes, 414 of them were participated in this study giving a response rate of 97.8%. From those participants, 248 (59.9%) of them has clinical competency [95% CI: (55.18%, 64.62%)]. In multivariable analysis, studying in post basic program [AOR: 5.58], conducive clinical learning environment [AOR: 4.10], good staff-student interaction [AOR: 7.44], satisfaction [AOR: 20.66] and positive attitude towards clinical practice [AOR: 2.49] were factors significantly associated with clinical competency. ConclusionIn this study, the overall magnitude of clinical competency was found to be unsatisfactory (59.9%). Studying in private program, non-conducive clinical learning environment, poor staff-student interaction, low satisfaction and negative attitude towards clinical practice were identified as factors associated with clinical incompetency. Policy makers, universities and teaching health facilities need to work collaboratively to create nurses with clinical competency by focusing on proper screening to select candidates for studying in private program, creating conducive clinical learning environment, integrating students with clinical staffs to facilitate learning and positive attitude change of students towards their profession to increase level of satisfaction.

Civil servants’ physical activity status and its associated factors in Northeast Ethiopia: applying Health Belief Model

BackgroundIdentifying the associated factors of the physical activity of civil servants is necessary to increase the practice of physical activity. However, limited studies addressed associated factors of civil servants’ physical...

Review on Pasteurellosis: Causes, Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Current Status in Ethiopia

Infectious diseases are one of the key constraints like pneumonic pasteurellosis is most recurrent respiratory infections that affect ruminants. This disease is caused by transportation stress, bacteria, viruses and climatic changes. A variety of etiologic agent form this multi-factorial disease such as Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida) (P. multocida gallicida, P. multocida multocida) and P. multocida septica. may also be divided into five capsular serogroups (A-E) and sixteen somatic serotypes [1-16]. Mannheimia haemolytica (M. haemolytica) formerly named P. haemolytica has two biotypes A and T depending on arabinose and trehalose fermentation. The colonies produced by M. haemolytica are odorless, moist, smooth, grayish, and translucent measuring approximately 1-3mm in diameter on blood agar plates while the colonies of P. multocida are round, grayish, shiny and non-haemolytic. Pneumonic pasteurellosis diagnosis is based on the clinical symptoms, necropsy, and bacteria isolation, Biolog, molecular and by the recent developed bacterial diagnostic technique called Matrix-Assisted-Laser-Desorption/Ionization-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI TOF MS), a fast, reliable and cost-effective method. Pasteurellosis is complex multifactorial disease and difficult to control but good management and prevention is advisable.

Trends of Oat Production Area, Productivity and Utilization Status in Ethiopia

Oat is an important multi-purpose cereal crop cultivated for grain, feed, straw used for human consumption and livestock feed. Oat is ranked as sixth in the world’s cereal production following wheat, maize, rice, barley and sorghum. Therefore, this study is initiated to analyze the trends of; oats production area, productivity and utilization status in Ethiopia. Data of meher season oats area of production (ha), productivity (qt/ha) and utilization (%) were collected from the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) of Ethiopia. Trend test was carried out using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall’s trend test packaged in XLstat. This study’s result indicated that oat production showed a non-significant increasing trend. Additionally oats yield qt/ha showed that significant increasing trend. Oat production area showed significant decreasing despite being used as Household Consumption and animal feed showed non-significant decreasing trends.

Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis – A review

In many parts of the world, domestic as well as wild cattle are affected by infectious bovine rhinotracheitis. The causative organism is Varicellovirus in the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae of the family Herpesviridae. This review is mainly concerned with the etiology, epidemiology, economic importance, clinical presentation of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control apart from its status in Ethiopia.

Determinants of immunization status among 12-24 months old children in Ethiopia: Using 2019 Ethiopian mini demographic and health survey data.

Vaccination is a global success story, one of the most effective and successful health interventions for health and development, saving the lives of millions of children every year. In 2018, nearly 870,000 Ethiopian children did not receive the life-saving measles, diphtheria, and tetanus vaccines. This study aimed to determine what factors influence children's immunization status in Ethiopia. Immunization status was examined in a sample of 1843 children aged 12-24 months using data from the 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019. The study used percentages to show the prevalence of immunization status among children. The marginal likelihood effect was used to determine the impact of each category of the explanatory variable on one response category of immunization status. Ordinal logistic regression models were constructed, and the best-fitting model was selected to identify significant immunization status variables. The immunization prevalence among children was 72.2% (34.2% fully immunized and 38.0% partially immunized), while about 27.8% of children were non-immunized. The fitted partial proportional odds model revealed that child immunization status was significantly associated with region afar (OR = 7.90; CI: 4.78-11.92), family planning use (OR = 0.69; CI: 0.54-0.88), residence (OR = 2.22;CI: 1.60-3.09), antenatal visit (OR = 0.73;CI: 0.53-0.99), and delivery place (OR = 0.65;CI: 0.50-0.84). Vaccinating children was a significant step forward in improving and protecting child health in Ethiopia, as the proportion of non-immunized children was about 27.8%. The study showed that the prevalence of non-immunization status among rural children was 33.6% and about 36.6% among children from non-educated mothers. As a result, it is agreeable that treatments are better to focus on targeting essential childhood vaccinations by promoting maternal education about family planning, antenatal visits, and maternal access to health care.

Married women pre-marital HIV testing status in Ethiopia: Individual and community level factor analysis.

Marriage between serodiscordant individuals accounts for 65-85% of new infections. Pre-marital Human Immune Virus (HIV) testing opens the door for HIV infection prevention and control. There are no studies that have evaluated the coverage and factors influencing pre-marital HIV testing at the community level in Ethiopia. This study was conducted using 10,008 samples of data extracted from Ethiopian demographic and health surveys (EDHS), 2016. To identify individual and community level factors a multi-level binary logistic regression model was used. Among fitted models, "full" model was taken as the best model. To declare the presence or absence of significant association with pre-marital HIV testing, a p-value < 0.05 with confidence interval (CI) was used. In Ethiopia, 21.4% (95% CI: 20.6, 22.2%) of study participants had pre-marital HIV testing. Age 35-49 years (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.66), educated (AOR = 1.76; 95% CI: 1.17, 2.79), rich (AOR = 1.95; 95% CI: 1.13, 3.55), having media exposure (AOR = 1.54; 95% CI: 1.30, 4.71), and high community level literacy (AOR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.66) were factors significantly associated with pre-marital HIV testing. The low coverage of pre-marital HIV testing in Ethiopia is insufficient to have a significant influence on the HIV/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. Information dissemination to create awareness about human rights and public health implications of pre-marital HIV testing áre necessary while it is made mandatory.

Modeling on number of children ever born and its determinants among married women of reproductive age in Ethiopia: A Poisson regression analysis

BackgroundOne of the main components of population dynamics that determine the size, structure, and composition of a country’s population is the number of ever-born children. Psychological, economic, social, and demographic factors all have a strong influence on and predict it. However, there is little information on its current status in Ethiopia. As a result, modeling the number of children ever born and its determinants is critical for the Ethiopian government to develop appropriate policies and programs. MethodsA total of 3260 eligible women were used as a study sample in this study to assess the number of children ever born and determinants among married reproductive age women in Ethiopia. Secondary data were culled from the 2019 Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey datasets. The factors associated with the number of children born were identified using a Poisson regression model (CEB). ResultsThe average number of children per mother was 6.09, with a standard deviation of 8.74. There were 2432 (74.6%) rural residents among the total respondents, 2402 (73.7%) have no formal education, and three out of five women are not currently working. The participants' average age was 41.66, with a standard deviation of 3.88. When compared to urban residents, the number of CEB for rural residents is 1.37 times higher. When compared to women with no education, the number of CEB for women with higher education was reduced by 48%. For every unit increase in respondents' current age, the percent change in the number of children ever born increases by 2.4%. For every unit increase in the family's wealth index status, the percent change in the number of children ever born decreases by 1.7%. ConclusionWhen compared to the target of Ethiopia’s health transformation plan, the average number of children born is higher. Improving the household wealth index, women’s education, and employment status all contribute to a reduction in the number of CEB, which is important in balancing population growth with natural capacity and the country’s economic development.

Does health sector aid matter? Evidence from time-series data analysis in Ethiopia

Aims: Development assistance for health is an important part of financing health care in developing countries. In spite of the increasing volumes in absolute terms in development assistance for health, there are controversies on their effect on health outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effect of development assistance for health on health status in Ethiopia. Methods: Using dynamic time series analytic approach for the period 1978-2013, this paper examines whether development assistance for health has contributed for health status change in Ethiopia. While life expectancy at birth was used as a measure of health status, vector error correction model was used for the analysis. Results: Development assistance for health expenditure (lagged one and two years) had a significant positive effect on life expectancy at birth in Ethiopia. Other things being equal, a 1% increase in per capita development assistance for health leads to 0.026 years improvement in life expectancy at birth (P&lt;0.001) in the immediate year following the period of assistance, and 0.008 years (P=0.025) in the immediate two years following the provision of assistance. Conclusion: This study indicates that, seemingly, development assistance for health has significant favourable effect in improving health status in Ethiopia. The policy implication of this finding is development assistance for the health should continue as an interim means to an end.

Social Capital and Vaccination: A Case Study of Measles Vaccination Among Nine–Months–Old Children in Ethiopia

A couple of studies in Ethiopia have explored the impacts of social capital on measles vaccinations. However, the basic relationship between social capital and measles vaccination remains unexplained. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of caregivers’ structural social capital on measles vaccinations among nine-month-old infants in Ethiopia. The 2011 first round worldwide Young Lives Survey dataset for Ethiopia was utilized, and the situation of 1652 children living with a mother/father was analyzed through the clustered sample and logistic regression. Results show that caregivers’ social interaction and membership (professional union, political, religious and funeral/credit groups), social support (from political pioneers, government officials, charitable NGOs, family/relatives, and friends), and collective activities (which they join along with other family units, and talk to local authorities) were significantly positively associated with measles vaccination at a 0.05 significance level after adjusting for covariates. Any future attempts to advance measles vaccination status in Ethiopia without understanding caregivers’ social group enrolment, social support, and collective activity are likely to be unsuccessful.