Publications by authors named "Solomon Yimer"

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health challenge in Ethiopia. TB treatment outcomes were suboptimal compared to the expected target of the national TB control Program. The provision of standard anti-TB treatment is the primary component of the directly observed treatment, short-course strategy.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study assessed tuberculosis preventive treatment (TPT) uptake among people living with HIV (PLHIV) during the COVID-19 period in Addis Ababa's public hospitals.
  • Out of 1,069 PLHIV newly on antiretroviral therapy, 99.1% were screened for TB symptoms, but only 78.8% of those negative for TB symptoms started TPT, with only 70.5% completing it.
  • The research found that those on a 3-month isoniazid plus rifapentine regimen were more likely to complete TPT compared to those on a 6-month daily isoniazid regimen.
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Article Synopsis
  • * Despite their importance, current RDTs suffer from limitations in clinical sensitivity and specificity, require significant funding for development, and struggle with implementation, especially in low-income countries due to insufficient investments and competing health priorities.
  • * The recent World Health Assembly resolution highlights the need for enhanced diagnostic capabilities, but it lacks binding power, making it crucial to seek funding mechanisms like the Pandemic Fund to improve RDT development for better pandemic preparedness.
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Objective: Coffee holds a cherished place in Ethiopian culture, its consumption among students raises concerns despite its perceived benefits for alertness and productivity. Moderate caffeine intake remains unproblematic, but exceeding 400 mg daily can trigger detrimental health effects such as fatigue, memory impairment, and even attention-deficit disorder. Research on problematic coffee use among young adults, specifically Ethiopian students, remains limited, hindering our understanding of its potential scope and impact.

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Background: Delay in psychiatric treatment leads to increased morbidity and mortality, as well as the emergence of several psychiatric and physical comorbidities and the use of life-threatening and life-altering self-treatments (such as licit and illicit substance misuse). Delaying detection and taking preventive measures against its modifiable factors are crucial for a better prognosis.

Objective: To assess delayed treatment seeking and its associated factors among people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who are on follow-up at Dilla University Referral Hospital in the southern region of Ethiopia.

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Chikungunya is an arboviral disease caused by the chikungunya virus (CHIKV) afflicting tropical and sub-tropical countries worldwide. It has been identified as a priority pathogen by the Coalition for Epidemics Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and as an emerging infectious disease (EID) necessitating further action as soon as possible by the World Health Organization (WHO). Recent studies suggest that disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to CHIKV infection are as high as 106,089 DALYs lost globally.

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Reference materials are critical in assay development for calibrating and assessing their suitability. The devasting nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent proliferation of vaccine platforms and technologies has meant that there is even a greater need for standards for immunoassay development, which are critical to assess and compare vaccines' responses. Equally important are the standards needed to control the vaccine manufacturing processes.

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Background: Delays in diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) increases severity of illness and continued transmission of TB in the community. Understanding the magnitude and factors associated with total delay is imperative to expedite case detection and treatment of TB. The aim of this study was to determine the length and analyze factors associated with total delay.

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Background: In Ethiopia, more than one-third of all neonatal mortality are caused by early-onset neonatal sepsis, which is one of the most common reasons for neonatal hospitalization and mortality in developing countries. This study aims to add to the body of knowledge on the determinants of early-onset neonatal sepsis to reduce the prevalence of early-onset neonatal sepsis in the study setting.

Methods: An unmatched case-control study was carried out in public hospitals of Sidama region, Southern Ethiopia.

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Background: Problematic substance use is becoming a common problem in marginalized groups such as street youths. However, there is a dearth of studies on the prevalence and factors associated with problematic substance use among street youth in Ethiopia.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of problematic substance use and identify its associated factors among street youth.

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Breakfast skipping and its relationship with academic achievement among primary school children were investigated in this study. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 848 primary school children. Breakfast skipping was analyzed using a 2-item questionnaire.

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Background: People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are frequently confronted with severe social issues such as rejection, abandonment, criticism, and stigma. This would negatively affect their quality of life. Several studies have been conducted so far to assess factors affecting the health-related quality of life among people living with HIV/AIDS who are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Ethiopia.

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Introduction: Polygamy is commonly referred to as the union of a man with multiple women or the practice of having more than one wife at a time. In Ethiopia, polygamy has practiced in all regions. In particular, the stress of polygamous family life predisposes mothers to psychological problems.

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Background: In many settings, health care service provision has been modified to managing COVID-19 cases, and this has been affecting the provision of maternal and child health services. The aim of this study was to assess trends in selected maternal and child health services performance in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A cross-sectional data review was conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from April to May 2021.

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Reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are secreted by human cells in response to infection by (Mtb). Although RNS can kill Mtb under some circumstances, Mtb can adapt and survive in the presence of RNS by a process that involves modulation of gene expression. Previous studies focused primarily on stress-related changes in the Mtb transcriptome.

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Background: In Ethiopia, perinatal mortality rate was 33 per 1000 pregnancies and 64.4% of this death was occurred within the first 7 days of neonatal life. Moreover, more than 2.

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Tuberculosis, mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is an ancient human disease that gravely affects millions of people annually. We wanted to explore the genetic diversity and lineage-specific association of Mtb with drug resistance among pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Sputum samples were collected from pulmonary tuberculosis patients at six different healthcare institutions in Tigray, Ethiopia, between July 2018 and August 2019.

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Background: Problematic Internet use is characterized by excessive or poorly controlled preoccupations, urges, or behavior regarding computer use and Internet access which lead to impairment or distress. It has been found that the occurrence rate of problematic Internet use among university students ranges from 0.8% to 47.

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Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the main etiology of tuberculosis (TB), is predominantly an intracellular pathogen that has caused infection, disease and death in humans for centuries. Lipid droplets (LDs) are dynamic intracellular organelles that are found across the evolutionary tree of life. This review is an evaluation of the current state of knowledge regarding Mtb-LD formation and associated Mtb transcriptome directly from sputa.

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Background: Worldwide, the rates of psychological problems have been shown to have a dramatic increase, particularly among people living with chronic diseases. Besides the known clinical factors, it is important to address an individual's level of resilience as an included factor for mental health outcome for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess determinants of common mental disorders among people living with human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency virus (HIV/AIDS).

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Existing evidence suggests that drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) remains a huge public health threat in high-burden TB countries such as Ethiopia. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the challenges of healthcare workers (HCWs) involved in providing DR-TB care in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We conducted in-depth interviews with 18 HCWs purposively selected from 10 healthcare facilities in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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Objective: To compare tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes and associated factors among patients attending community-based versus facility-based directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS).

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: The study was conducted in Southwest Ethiopia.

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Background: Vaccines are potent tools to prevent outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases from becoming epidemics and need to be developed at an accelerated pace to have any impact on the course of an ongoing epidemic. The aim of this study was to describe time use in the execution of vaccine trials, to identify steps that could be accelerated to improve preparedness and planning for future emerging infectious diseases vaccine trials.

Methods: We used a mixed-methods approach to map time use and process steps that could be accelerated during vaccine trials.

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