The burden attributable to primary headache disorders in children and adolescents in Ethiopia: estimates from a national schools-based study.

Background: We previously reported high prevalences of headache disorders among children (6-11 years) and adolescents (12-17 years) in Ethiopia. Here we provide data on headache-attributed burden collected contemporaneously from the same study participants. Part of the global schools-based programme within the Global Campaign against Headache, the study is the first to present such data from sub-Saharan Africa.

Impact of refresher training on the outcomes of trachomatous trichiasis surgery.

Background/aims: Trachomatous trichiasis (TT) is a severe consequence of chronic inflammation/conjunctival scarring resulting from trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Our prospective cohort study evaluated the effectiveness of refresher training (RT) for experienced surgeons (1-22 years) on the outcomes of upper lid (UL) TT surgery in rural Ethiopia.

Methods: Patients undergoing UL TT surgery in at least one eye by a participating surgeon were included.

Association between fluoride exposure in drinking water and cognitive deficits in children: A pilot study.

Fluoride (F) exposure in drinking water may lead to reduced cognitive function among children; however, findings largely remain inconclusive. In this pilot study, we examined associations between a range of chronic F exposures (low to high: 0.4 to 15.

Neuro-medical manifestations of fluorosis in populations living in the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley.

Prolonged exposure to higher concentrations of fluoride (> 1.5 mg/L) is associated with dental and skeletal fluorosis. The effects of fluoride on dental and skeletal system have been studied extensively; however, the neurological consequences of fluoride in population-based studies are limited.

The prevalence of headache disorders in children and adolescents in Ethiopia: a schools-based study.

Background: The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study establishes headache as the second-highest cause of disability worldwide. Because most headache data in GBD are from adults, leading to underestimation of headache-attributed burden, a global schools-based programme within the Global Campaign against Headache is contributing data from children (7-11 years) and adolescents (12-17 years). This national study in Ethiopia is the first in this programme reported from sub-Saharan Africa.

Bone quality in fluoride-exposed populations: A novel application of the ultrasonic method.

Background: Various studies, mostly with animals, have provided evidence of adverse impacts of fluoride (F) on bone density, collagen and microstructure, yet its effects on overall bone quality (strength) has not been clearly or extensively characterized in human populations.

Objective: In this observational study, we assessed variation in an integrated measures of bone quality in a population exposed to wide-ranging F levels (0.3 to 15.

Biomonitoring of metals and trace elements in urine of central Ethiopian populations.

Biomonitoring of chemical concentrations in humans is important for detecting, monitoring, and addressing a wide range of health threats. However, it is virtually absent across many African nations, including Ethiopia. This study aims to determine urinary concentrations for metals and trace elements in populations living in the central Ethiopian Rift Valley.

Fluorometholone 0.1% as Ancillary Therapy for Trachomatous Trichiasis Surgery: Randomized Clinical Trial.

Purpose: To assess the hypothesis that fluorometholone 0.1% eye drops are safe and effective as adjunctive therapy for trachomatous trichiasis (TT) surgery; determining the most promising dose.

Design: Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-masked parallel dose-ranging clinical trial.

The burden of headache disorders in Ethiopia: national estimates from a population-based door-to-door survey.

Background: Headache disorders are the third-highest cause of disability worldwide, with migraine and medication-overuse headache (MOH) the major contributors. In Ethiopia we have shown these disorders to be highly prevalent: migraine 17.7%, TTH 20.

Biomarkers of chronic fluoride exposure in groundwater in a highly exposed population.

This study examined the relation between fluoride (F) concentrations in fingernail clippings and urine and the prevalence and severity of enamel fluorosis (EF) among Ethiopian Rift Valley populations exposed to high levels of F in drinking water. The utility of fingernail clippings as a biomarker for F exposure and EF was also assessed for the first time in a high-F region. The study recorded the EF status of 386 individuals (10 to 50years old), who consume naturally contaminated groundwater with widely varying F concentration (0.

The prevalence of primary headache disorders in Ethiopia.

Background: Knowledge of the epidemiology of primary headache disorders in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains very limited. We performed a population-based survey in rural and urban areas of Ethiopia, using methods similar to those of an earlier study in Zambia and tested in multiple other countries by Lifting The Burden.

Methods: In a cross-sectional survey we visited households unannounced in four regions of Ethiopia: the mostly urban populations in Addis Ababa and its environs and rural populations of selected districts in Oromia, Amhara and South Nations Nationalities and People's Regions States (SNNPRS).

Ethiopian teachers: their knowledge, attitude and practice towards epilepsy.

Background: In Ethiopia where the burden of epilepsy is highest among school age children and teenagers, and where people with epilepsy (PWE) and their relatives suffers from high level of perceived stigma, there had not been any study that assessed the knowledge, attitude and practice of teachers towards PWE. This study aims to assess and understand the social and demographic determinants of knowledge, attitude and practice of teachers towards PLW in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods: Multistage cluster sampling procedure was used to identify twenty schools from three sub cities of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Impact of an educational comic book on epilepsy-related knowledge, awareness, and attitudes among school children in Ethiopia.

Introduction: Epilepsy is of worldwide public health importance because it is common, often accompanied by physical and cognitive disabilities, and is widely stigmatized. The incidence of epilepsy in Ethiopia was reported to be 64/100,000 population and a prevalence of 520/100,000 population. A minority of subjects is treated, and religious and sociocultural beliefs influence the nature of treatment and care.

Fluoride exposure from groundwater as reflected by urinary fluoride and children's dental fluorosis in the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley.

This cross-sectional study explores the relationships between children's F(-) exposure from drinking groundwater and urinary F(-) concentrations, combined with dental fluorosis (DF) in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) Valley. We examined the DF prevalence and severity among 491 children (10 to 15 years old) who are life-long residents of 33 rural communities in which groundwater concentrations of F(-) cover a wide range. A subset of 156 children was selected for urinary F(-) measurements.

The methodology of population surveys of headache prevalence, burden and cost: principles and recommendations from the Global Campaign against Headache.

The global burden of headache is very large, but knowledge of it is far from complete and needs still to be gathered. Published population-based studies have used variable methodology, which has influenced findings and made comparisons difficult. Among the initiatives of the Global Campaign against Headache to improve and standardize methods in use for cross-sectional studies, the most important is the production of consensus-based methodological guidelines.

Diagnosis, prevalence estimation and burden measurement in population surveys of headache: presenting the HARDSHIP questionnaire.

The global burden of headache is very large, but knowledge of it is far from complete and needs still to be gathered. Published population-based studies have used variable methodology, which has influenced findings and made comparisons difficult. The Global Campaign against Headache is undertaking initiatives to improve and standardize methods in use for cross-sectional studies.

Improving quality in population surveys of headache prevalence, burden and cost: key methodological considerations.

Population-based studies of headache disorders are important. They inform needs assessment and underpin service policy for a set of disorders that are a public-health priority. On the one hand, our knowledge of the global burden of headache is incomplete, with major geographical gaps; on the other, methodological differences and variable quality are notable among published studies of headache prevalence, burden and cost.

Epidemiology of skeletal fluorosis in Wonji Shoa Sugar Estate, Wonji, Ethiopia: a community based survey.

Introduction: Endemic skeletal fluorosis is a form of chronic fluoride intoxication resulting from ingestion of excessive quantities of fluoride through drinking water. It is an important public health problem in parts of several developing countries including Ethiopia.

Objective: The aim of this study is assess the magnitude of the problem at the community level.

Lead levels in primary teeth in children from urban and rural areas in Ethiopia.

Background: Lead (Pb) is one of the most important and widely distributed pollutants in the environment. Lead concentration in human primary teeth reflects children's exposure to the metal during early life. OBJECTIVE.

Community attitudes towards epilepsy in a rural Ethiopian setting: a re-visit after 15 years.

Introduction: Despite being a common disorder, epilepsy is perhaps the neurological condition least well understood by the general public and most likely to be associated with a wide range of misconceptions.

Methods: A cross-sectional community-based survey was conducted in a predominantly rural area of central Ethiopia where there has been a continuous supply of anticonvulsant medications for the last 15 years. Our objective was to assess the impact of this treatment upon the attitudes of rural people towards epilepsy by comparing our findings to a community attitude survey conducted between 1986 and 1988.

No evidence for prolonged excretion of polioviruses in persons with residual paralytic poliomyelitis in Ethiopia, Pakistan and Guatemala.

Persons who have developed acute flaccid paralysis following infection with wild-type polioviruses or vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis usually excrete polioviruses for only a few weeks. However, some patients with paralytic poliomyelitis have had prolonged excretion of polioviruses for periods of up to 10 years after onset of disease. Most prolonged excretors have been identified in industrialized countries.

The geographic distribution of fluoride in surface and groundwater in Ethiopia with an emphasis on the Rift Valley.

This paper analyzes the most extensive database on fluoride distribution in Ethiopia. Of the total 1438 water samples tested, 24.2% had fluoride concentrations above the 1.

High-fluoride drinking water. A health problem in the Ethiopian Rift Valley 1. Assessment of lateritic soils as defluoridating agents.

Purpose: High-fluoride drinking water represents a health hazard to millions of people, not least in the East African Rift Valley. The aim of the present project was to establish a simple method for removing excessive fluoride from water.

Material And Methods: Based on geological maps and previous experience, 22 soil samples were selected in mountainous areas in central Ethiopia.

Drinking water quality in the Ethiopian section of the East African Rift Valley I--data and health aspects.

Drinking water samples were collected throughout the Ethiopian part of the Rift Valley, separated into water drawn from deep wells (deeper than 60 m), shallow wells (<60 m deep), hot springs (T>36 degrees C), springs (T<32 degrees C) and rivers. A total of 138 samples were analysed for 70 parameters (Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Br, Ca, Cd, Ce, Cl, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Dy, Er, Eu, F, Fe, Ga, Gd, Ge, Hf, Hg, Ho, I, In, K, La, Li, Lu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Nd, Ni, NO(2), NO(3), Pb, Pr, Rb, Sb, Se, Si, Sm, Sn, SO(4), Sr, Ta, Tb, Te, Th, Ti, Tl, Tm, U, V, W, Y, Yb, Zn, Zr, temperature, pH, conductivity and alkalinity) with ion chromatography (anions), spectrometry (ICP-OES and ICP-MS, cations) and parameter-specific (e.g.