Cost-effectiveness of an ambulance-based referral system for emergency obstetrical and neonatal care in rural Ethiopia.

Background: To estimate the cost-effectiveness of an ambulance-based referral system an dedicated to emergency obstetrics and neonatal care (EmONC) in remote sub-Saharan settings.

Methods: In this prospective study performed in Oromiya Region (Ethiopia), all obstetrical cases referred to the hospital with the ambulance were consecutively evaluated during a three-months period. The health professionals who managed the referred cases were requested to identify those that could be considered as undoubtedly effective.

Gender Inequalities in Remote Settings: Analysis of 105,025 Medical Records of a Rural Hospital in Ethiopia (2005-2015).

Gender inequalities in Sub-Saharan Africa are deemed relevant but data to support this view are scanty. Retrospective analysis of a large dataset of 105,025 patients admitted to an Ethiopian rural private, non-for-profit hospital over a 11 years period (2005-2015). Since 2001, the hospital and the local community are involved in a long-term, comprehensive and externally-supported health care intervention.

Ambulance referral for emergency obstetric care in remote settings.

Objective: To evaluate the functionality of an ambulance service dedicated to emergency obstetric care (EmOC) that referred pregnant women to health centers for delivery assistance or to a hospital for the management of obstetric complications.

Methods: A retrospective study investigated an ambulance referral system for EmOC in a rural area of Ethiopia between July 1 and December 31, 2013. The service was available 24h a day and was free of charge.

Countdown to 2015: comparing progress towards the achievement of the health Millennium Development Goals in Ethiopia and other sub-Saharan African countries.

Mid-way 2007 reports indicate that many low-income countries, at current rates of progress, are unlikely to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015. In Ethiopia, a decline was observed in under-five mortality rates from 204 to 123 per 1000 live births between 1990 and 2005, showing good progress towards the achievement of MDG4. A downward trend was observed in the maternal mortality ratio; however, because of the high degree of sampling variability, it is not possible to reach any firm conclusion about the possibility of achieving MDG5.

Poverty, inequality and health: the challenge of the double burden of disease in a non-profit hospital in rural Ethiopia.

This study was aimed at describing disease patterns in a rural zone of Oromiya region, Ethiopia through a retrospective analysis of discharge records for 22,377 inpatients of St. Luke Hospital, Wolisso, Ethiopia in the period 2005-2007. The leading cause of admission was childbirth, followed by injuries, malaria and pneumonia.

Skin disorders and disease profile of poverty: analysis of medical records in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, 2005-2007.

Skin disease is among the most frequent causes of morbidity in Ethiopia, showing high prevalence in the general population and being the sixth most frequent cause of outpatient visits nationwide to health facilities. This study was aimed at describing skin disease patterns in Tigray region, northern Ethiopia through a retrospective analysis of 30618 outpatient and 1103 inpatient medical records from the Italian Dermatological Centre in Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, during the period 2005-2007. The leading causes of outpatient attendance were eczema (n=6998), mycosis (n=5065), pigmentation anomalies (n=3319), scabies (n=2229) and acne (n=2001).

Differences in hospital admissions for males and females in northern Uganda in the period 1992-2004: a consideration of gender and sex differences in health care use.

To inform our understanding of male and female health care use, we assessed sex differences in hospital admissions by diagnosis and for in-patient mortality using discharge records for 210319 patients admitted to the Lacor Hospital in northern Uganda in the period 1992-2004. These differences were interpreted using a gender framework. The overall number of admissions was similar by sex, yet differences emerged among age groups.

The burden of traditional practices, ebino and tea-tea, on child health in Northern Uganda.

Traditional medical practices persist today in Northern Uganda; for example, the operations of ebino and tea-tea are frequently performed in childhood. Ebino, or "false teeth", refers to gingival swellings during the eruption of the primary canine teeth in infants, and consists of the extraction of deciduous canine tooth buds. Tea-tea consists of systematic cuts made on the chest wall when the child has difficulty in breathing.

Estimating HIV prevalence and the impact of HIV/AIDS on a Ugandan hospital by combining serosurvey data and hospital discharge records.

Objective: To estimate the disease-specific HIV prevalence in a northern Ugandan hospital and to evaluate the impact of HIV/AIDS on hospital services.

Design: HIV serosurvey and analysis of routinely compiled hospital records.

Methods: The serosurvey was conducted among all 352 patients admitted to the medical ward of the Lacor Hospital in March 1999 (this ward consists of 3 units: general medicine, tuberculosis, and cancer).