To assess cervical cancer screening positivity rates, follow-up rescreening uptake 1 year after treatment and persistent positivity among women with initial positive screening results in Ethiopia. The study also explored reasons for loss to follow-up and preferences for reminder strategies.

Longitudinal cross-sectional study.

10 primary healthcare facilities in Oromia and southern and central Ethiopia.

From November 2022 to April 2024, 17 586 women screened for cervical cancer. Of these 768 (4.4%) had positive screening results, and 515 women treated at the primary level were included to assess follow-up rescreening uptake. An additional 139 women who did not return for follow-up were interviewed to identify reasons for non-uptake and reminder preferences.

Of the 515 women included in the analysis, 179 (34.8%, 95% CI: 30.6% to 38.8%) returned for follow-up rescreening. Among those re-screened, the persistent visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) positivity rate was 16.1% (95% CI: 11.0% to 21.7%). Factors significantly associated with follow-up rescreening uptake included age over 40 (adjusted OR (AOR): 2.5; 95% CI: 1.34 to 5.00), urban residence (AOR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.15 to 2.58), secondary or higher education (AOR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.06 to 4.12) and HIV-positive status (AOR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.27 to 4.87). Among the 139 women contacted, the main reasons for non-uptake were lack of time, forgetting appointments, visiting another facility and pregnancy. Regarding preferred reminders, 93% favoured text messages and all agreed to phone calls or home visits.

One-third of women adhered to follow-up rescreening after a positive cervical cancer screening in Ethiopia, revealing a considerable gap since those women had a three times higher chance of being VIA positive compared with the first screening. Older age, urban residence, higher education and HIV-positive status were significantly linked to follow-up rescreening uptake. Addressing barriers such as time constraints and forgotten appointments through tailored reminder strategies is essential for improving the follow-up rescreening uptake. Contextualised interventions can strengthen rescreening for finding those women at very high risk for cervical lesions and strengthen cervical cancer prevention in Ethiopia.

NCT06515301.

This study was carried out to identify individual-level and community-level factors influencing the number of antenatal care (ANC) visits in Ethiopia’s emerging regions (Afar, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambella).

Cross-sectional study design.

Ethiopia’s emerging regions (Afar, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambella) from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS).

The analysis included a total weighted sample of 441 women from the EDHS dataset who had given birth within the 5 years before the survey.

The number of ANC visits.

In this study, 20.5% (95% CI: 16.7%, 24.5%) of pregnant women received four minimum recommended visits. Women with secondary (incidence rate ratio, IRR 1.3; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.5), and higher (IRR 1.3; 95% CI: 1.1, 1.5) education, terminated pregnancy (IRR 2.3; 95% CI: 1.9, 3.1), wanted pregnancy (IRR 1.4; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.3), high community poverty (IRR 0.5; 95% CI: 0.4, 0.7), community media exposure (IRR 1.3; 95% CI: 1.3, 1.8) and high community illiteracy (IRR 0.6; 95% CI: 0.5, 0.9) were significant predictors of many ANC visits in Ethiopia’s emerging regions.

According to the findings of our study, more than three-quarters of pregnant mothers in Ethiopia’s emerging region did not receive the adequate number of visits recommended by the WHO. Pregnancy desirability, history of a terminated pregnancy, maternal education, community poverty level, community literacy and community media exposure were significantly associated with the number of ANC visits. Therefore, promoting interpectoral actions would be vital in improving maternal health.

This study aims to synthesise evidence on the pooled level of exit knowledge among outpatients served in public hospital pharmacies and private pharmacies in Ethiopia and to identify the associated factors associated with medication knowledge by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of primary articles focused on this area.

This systematic review and meta-analysis study employed the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach.

Three electronic databases—MEDLINE, Scopus and Google Scholar—were searched for all English-language articles published from 2010 until 18 December 2024.

The review exclusively included studies that reported original data, were freely accessible in full text and were written in English, as well as those investigating the level of knowledge among outpatients and associated factors, irrespective of study design. Studies lacking abstracts and full texts, reports, qualitative research, and conference summaries were excluded from the analysis.

Data from selected studies were extracted by three independent reviewers using a standardised data extraction format created using Microsoft Excel. Their results were cross-checked by two additional reviewers for consistency.

Of the 521 identified studies, 9 met the inclusion criteria. The overall pooled knowledge level was 45%. Factors associated with knowledge included residence (OR=0.67, 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.71), adequacy of information provided (OR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.24 to 0.90), education level (OR=0.70 CI: 0.39 to 0.89), clarity of instructions (OR=0.80 CI: 0.14 to 0.99) and pharmacist politeness (OR=0.72 CI: 0.46 to 0.77).

The systematic review and meta-analysis showed that pooled patient knowledge regarding their dispensed medications in Ethiopia is about 45%. Key determinant factors of knowledge included education level, quality of pharmacist communication, urban versus rural residence and pharmacist politeness. Recommendations for improvement include enhancing pharmacist training, developing educational materials in local languages, outreach programmes for rural areas and implementing patient-centred care policies.

PROSPERO number: CRD42024560816