Current diets which are commonly high in meat and ultra-processed foods are unhealthy and unsustainable and contribute significantly to climate change, environmental degradation and poor health outcomes. Transitioning to healthy and sustainable diets that are rich in plant-based foods and low in animal products could reduce environmental impacts and improve population health. Young Australian adults are a critical target group for dietary intervention as they are motivated towards climate action and have the lowest diet quality out of all adult age groups. As such, this study proposes a digital nutrition intervention to promote healthy and sustainable diets in this population group.

A 4-week pilot pre-post intervention will be conducted on the Deakin Wellbeing mobile application between July and August 2025. 32 young adults (18–25 years old; current student and/or staff at Deakin University; consume less than 260 g/week of legumes or 175 g/week nuts, living in Australia) will receive 4 weeks of the intervention to improve their adherence to a healthy and sustainable diet. Primary outcomes include feasibility (retention rate) and acceptability (engagement and user experience). Secondary outcomes include sustainable food literacy, legume and nut intakes, and adherence to a healthy and sustainable diet. Primary outcomes will be reported with descriptive statistics, while changes in secondary outcomes at each study time point will be measured using repeated measures Analysis of Variance, Friedman tests and McNemar’s tests.

Ethics approval to conduct the study was granted by the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee (2024/HE000163). A summary of findings will be disseminated to key stakeholders, for example, Deakin University Student Engagement groups, and will also be presented to the wider research community at conferences and via peer-reviewed publications. A summary of the results will be sent to all participants via email.

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry Registration ID: ACTRN12625000335493p, prospectively registered on 22 April 2025. Universal Trial Number: U1111-1319-0745.

To explore healthcare workers’ (HCWs) experiences, barriers and facilitators in managing patients with symptoms of possible breast, cervical or colorectal cancer.

A qualitative in-depth interview study with HCWs managing patients with breast, cervical and colorectal cancer symptoms. We also conducted workshops with a group of HCWs to check the credibility of the interview findings.

The study was conducted with staff working in primary, secondary and tertiary public health facilities in the Eastern and Western Cape in South Africa (SA), and Harare and Bulawayo and their referral provinces in Zimbabwe.

HCWs with experience in managing patients with symptoms of possible breast, cervical or colorectal cancer were recruited for the study. Participants were purposively sampled based on region, healthcare level and job role. A total of 56 participants (26 in SA and 30 in Zimbabwe) participated in the in-depth interviews. 26 (12 in SA and 14 in Zimbabwe) participated in four clinical advisory group workshops across both countries.

Drawing on the Model of Pathways to Treatment, HCWs’ perceptions of patient-level factors influencing the diagnostic interval included financial limitations, patients’ absence and delays in attendance. Healthcare provider and system factors included: challenges with referral and feedback systems; training needs; low awareness of protocols and guidelines; inappropriate and suboptimal clinical assessments; and broader socioeconomic factors and resource limitations.

Improving the timely diagnosis of breast, cervical and colorectal cancer in Southern Africa necessitates targeted strategies that address both patient-related, provider and health-system delays.

To assess the magnitude of clinical inertia and its associated factors among adult patients with asthma on chronic follow-up at Jimma Medical Center, Ethiopia, from December 2021 to May 2022.

A hospital-based prospective observational study was conducted in Jimma Medical Center from 1 December 2021 to 30 May 2022.

135 patients with asthma who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study consecutively and followed for 3 months.

Of 148 patients, 135 patients’ data were analysed. The mean (SD) age of the patients was 52.03 (±15.75) years. More than half (54.1%) of the study participants were men. Most of the study participants (68.9%) at the first and (70.4%) at the second visit, which is 3 months after the first visit, had clinical inertia, respectively. Comorbidity (adjusted OR (AOR) 3.35, 95% CI (1.15, 9.81), p

The burden of clinical inertia in this study was high at both visits. Comorbidity, duration of asthma of 5–10 years, moderate persistent and severe persistent asthma were identified as contributing factors to clinical inertia. Policymaker intervention to avoid clinical inertia is necessary to improve asthma treatment outcomes.

The study aimed to identify the predictive factors associated with virological failure among adult patients living with HIV on first-line highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in selected hospitals in Southeast Oromia, Ethiopia.

A facility-based unmatched case–control study was conducted.

The study was conducted in three selected hospitals in Southeast Oromia, Ethiopia.

The study included a final sample size of 282 participants, comprising 94 cases and 188 controls. A simple random sampling technique was employed to select participants.

The main outcome of this study was virological failure among adult patients living with HIV on first-line HAART. Virological failure was defined as a binary outcome: a case indicated the presence of failure, defined as adults aged≥15 years with a viral load (VL)>1000 copies/mm³ in two consecutive measurements taken 3 months apart, following enhanced adherence counselling (EAC) after 6 months of treatment. A control indicated the absence of failure, defined as patients aged≥15 years with a VL3 in two consecutive measurements after at least 6 months of treatment. The study used routine viral load testing records, recommended at 6 and 12 months and annually thereafter, with the WHO threshold of 1000 copies/mL used to define virological failure.

Individuals under the age of 35 had higher odds of virological failure (adjusted OR (AOR): 2.0; 95% CI (1.1 to 3.6)) compared with those older than 35. People with a body mass index (BMI) below 18.5 had higher odds of virological failure (AOR: 2.4; 95% CI (1.0 to 5.7)). Those with poor adherence had significantly higher odds of virological failure (AOR: 5.1; 95% CI (2.7 to 9.9)). Individuals attending less than 50% of their scheduled visits had increased odds of virological failure (AOR: 3.2; 95% CI (1.3 to 8.0)). Those with a history of co-trimoxazole preventive therapy use had higher odds of virological failure (AOR: 4.1; 95% CI (1.4 to 11.9)). Individuals with a baseline CD4 (cluster of differentiation) count below 200 cells/mm³ had higher odds of virological failure (AOR: 3.6; 95% CI (2.0 to 6.7)) compared with those with higher counts.

The study has identified several key factors, including education level, marital status, duration of HAART, younger age, current BMI, adherence to treatment, scheduled healthcare visits, history of co-trimoxazole preventive therapy use and baseline CD4 count, as significant determinants of virological failure within the studied population. The study’s identification of determinants of virological failure among people living with HIV is crucial for decreasing the prevalence of virological failure and improving the health of people living with HIV. Therefore, targeted counselling and support can play a crucial role in enhancing patient understanding, motivation and engagement with their treatment, ultimately contributing to improved virological suppression and overall health.

Though vaccination coverage in Ethiopia has shown steady progress over the years, there are districts with below targeted vaccination coverage. This study assessed the magnitude and determinants of recently introduced vaccines uptake among children aged 12–23 months in Ethiopia.

National cross-sectional study.

Ethiopia.

Mothers with children aged between 12 and 23 months.

The outcome variable was the uptake of recently introduced vaccines (rotavirus vaccine (RV) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)) among children aged 12–23.

Our analysis revealed that 45.7%, 53.4% and 43.5% of the children completed vaccination with PCV, RV and both PCV and RV, respectively. Being in the age group of 20–34 (adjusted OR (AOR)=2.03, 95% CI: 1.37 to 3.02) and 35–49 (AOR=2.44, 95% CI: 1.52 to 3.91), having at least four antenatal care contacts (AOR=2.73, 95% CI: 2.06 to 3.62), having postnatal care (AOR=1.84, 95% CI: 1.42 to 2.37), delivery in the health facility (AOR=1.45, 95% CI: 1.17 to 1.79) and having exposure to media (AOR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.56) and any of the wealth quintile categories higher than poorest category were positively associated with the uptake of newly introduced vaccines. Rural residency was found to be negatively associated with the uptake of newly introduced vaccines.

The overall full uptakes of newly introduced vaccines among children aged 12–23 months were significantly lower. Hence, this study emphasises the need to strengthen maternal and child healthcare services, particularly to the younger age mother and those with lower socioeconomic status.

The ARFID InitiativE Sweden (ARIES) investigates the genetic and environmental factors contributing to avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) in children and adolescents aged 6–14 years. ARIES will establish a national biobank and research registry. It aims to provide data for immediate research and track ARFID outcomes and clarify genetic links between ARFID and other conditions and analyse the gut microbiome to guide nutrition interventions.

The study will involve 1500 Swedish children and adolescents with ARFID and a control group of 500 Swedish children and adolescents without ARFID. Parents/guardians and their children will complete online questionnaires assessing ARFID and other eating disorder (ED) pathology, co-occurring conditions, quality of life and parental stress and ED pathology. All participants will provide a saliva sample for comprehensive genetic analyses. Additionally, a subset of participants will provide a stool sample to investigate the gut microbiome in ARFID.

ARIES was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2023-04638). All participants will give assent and their parents will complete informed consent. Data will be made available by the authors on reasonable request. Findings will be published in scientific journals and shared with the public and stakeholders in accessible ways, for example, via social media.