Imprisonment for South Ethiopian people living with HIV presents a double health burden: lived experiences of prisoners.

Background: Optimal adherence is crucial for ensuring both therapeutic and preventative benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Sub-optimal adherence is common in prisoners and little information is available about its predisposing circumstances in resource-limited settings. We explored lived experiences of inmates living with HIV (ILWH) and experiential accounts of service providers in South Ethiopia to identify barriers to and facilitators of HIV care use in the prison context.

Risk factors for late linkage to care and delayed antiretroviral therapy initiation among adults with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analyses.

Objectives: Late treatment initiation threatens the clinical and public health benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Quantitative synthesizes of the existing evidence related to this are lacking in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), which would help ascertain the best evidence-based interventions. This review aimed to systematically synthesize the available literature on factors affecting linkage to care and ART initiation among adults with HIV in SSA.

Factors affecting optimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy and viral suppression amongst HIV-infected prisoners in South Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study.

Background: Maintaining optimal adherence and viral suppression in people living with HIV (PLWH) is essential to ensure both preventative and therapeutic benefits of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Prisoners bear a particularly high burden of HIV infection and are highly likely to transmit to others during and after incarceration. However, the level of treatment adherence and viral suppression in incarcerated populations in low-income countries is unknown.

Various structural factors influenced early antiretroviral therapy initiation amongst HIV infected prisoners: a qualitative exploration in South Ethiopia.

Background: Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces the development of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), non-AIDS related comorbidities and mortality, and prevents transmission. However, the prevalence of delayed ART initiation amongst prisoners in sub-Saharan African countries is high and the contributing factors to this are relatively unknown.

Methods: Qualitative interviewing was employed to understand the prisoners' lived world with regard to initiating ART and associated barriers and facilitators in the South Ethiopian prison system.

A systematic review and meta-analyses on initiation, adherence and outcomes of antiretroviral therapy in incarcerated people.

Background: Incarcerated people are at increased risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection relative to the general population. Despite a high burden of infection, HIV care use among prison populations is often suboptimal and varies among settings, and little evidence exists explaining the discrepancy. Therefore, this review assessed barriers to optimal use of HIV care cascade in incarcerated people.

Patient delay in seeking tuberculosis diagnosis and associated factors in Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia.

Objective: To assess patient delay in seeking tuberculosis diagnosis and associated factors in Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia.

Results: The median patient delay in tuberculosis diagnosis in Hadiya Zone was found to be 30 days. Socioeconomic and perception related factors were identified as independent predictors for tuberculosis diagnosis delay.

Prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis and associated risk factors among prisoners in Hadiya Zone prison, Southern Ethiopia.

Background: People concentrated in congregated systems such as prisons, are important but often neglected reservoirs for tuberculosis transmission, and threaten those in the outside community. The condition is more serious in Africa particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to its poor living conditions and ineffective health services.

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis and associated risk factors among prisoners in Hadiya Zone prison.

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice about malaria and ITNs utilization among pregnant women in Shashogo District, Southern Ethiopia.

Background: Malaria causes variety of adverse consequences in pregnant women due to invasion of the placenta by Plasmodium. It increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcome for the mother, the foetus and the new-born. Therefore, knowledge, attitudes and practices of this vulnerable group about malaria and the effective use of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) contribute to sustainable control of the disease and its effects.