Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources

Chromium (III) is one of the chemicals widely used in various industrial processes. The wastewater containing Chromium (III) can be interconverted to Cr (VI) in the environment, which is one of the most toxic chemicals to biological systems. This paper investigates the removal of chromium (III) from aqueous solutions by adsorption process using abundant vesicular basalt available around Abbay River in Ethiopia. The batch adsorption method has been employed to evaluate the effect of various experimental parameters (pH, ionic strength, initial concentration and contact time) on Cr (III) adsorption. The adsorption process was highly dependent on pH. The maximum adsorption capacity was 0.976 mg g−1 at pH 6, initial concentration of 100 mg L−1 and adsorbent dosage of 50 g L−1. Kinetic experiments indicated that the pseudo-second-order model displayed the best correlation with adsorption kinetic data. The adsorption mechanism of Cr (III) onto the surface of the vesicular basalt involved film diffusion and/or intraparticle diffusion during the reaction. Equilibrium studies indicated that the Langmuir Isotherm model was found to be in better correlation with experimental data. This study indicated that vesicular basalt rock owned good potential for the treatment of Cr (III) containing polluted water.

Abstract Soil erosion decreases soil fertility of the uplands and causes siltation of lakes and reservoirs; the lakes and reservoirs in tropical monsoonal African highlands are especially affected by sedimentation. Efforts in reducing loads by designing management practices are hampered by lack of quantitative data on the relationship of erosion in the watersheds and sediment accumulation on flood plains, lakes and reservoirs. The objective of this study is to develop a prototype quantitative method for estimating sediment budget for tropical monsoon lakes with limited observational data. Four watersheds in the Lake Tana basin were selected for this study. The Parameter Efficient Distributed (PED) model that has shown to perform well in the Ethiopian highlands is used to overcome the data limitations and recreate the missing sediment fluxes. PED model parameters are calibrated using daily discharge data and the occasionally collected sediment concentration when establishing the sediment rating curves for the major rivers. The calibrated model parameters are then used to predict the sediment budget for the 1994-2009 period. Sediment retained in the lake is determined from two bathymetric surveys taken 20 years apart whereas the sediment leaving the lake is calculated based on measured discharge and observed sediment concentrations. Results show that annually on average 34 t/ha/year of sediment is removed from the gauged part of the Lake Tana watersheds. Depending on the up-scaling method from the gauged to the ungauged part, 21 to 32 t/ha/year (equivalent to 24-38 Mt/year) is transported from the upland watersheds of which 46% to 65% is retained in the flood plains and 93% to 96% is trapped on the flood plains and in the lake. Thus, only 4-7% of all sediment produced in the watersheds leaves the Lake Tana Basin.

Ethiopia unveiled homegrown economic reform agenda aimed to achieve a lower-middle status by 2030 and sustain its economic growth to achieve medium-middle and higher-middle status by 2040 and 2050 respectively. In this study, we evaluated the optimal renewable energy mix for power generation and associated investment costs for the country to progressively achieve upper-middle-income countries by 2050. Two economic scenarios: business as usual and Ethiopia's homegrown reform agenda scenario were considered. The study used an Open Source energy Modeling System. The model results suggest: if projected power demand increases as anticipated in the homegrown reform agenda scenario, Ethiopia requires to expand the installed power capacity to 31.22GW, 112.45GW and 334.27GW to cover the current unmet and achieve lower, medium and higher middle-income status by 2030, 2040 and 2050 respectively. The Ethiopian energy mix continues to be dominated by hydropower and starts gradually shifting to solar and wind energy development towards 2050 as a least-cost energy supply option. The results also indicate Ethiopia needs to invest about 70 billion US$ on power plant investments for the period 2021-2030 to achieve the lower-middle-income electricity per capita consumption target by 2030 and staggering cumulative investment in the order of 750 billion US$ from 2031 to 2050 inclusive to achieve upper-middle-income electricity consumption rates by 2050. Ethiopia has enough renewable energy potential to achieve its economic target. Investment and financial sourcing remain a priority challenge. The findings could be useful in supporting decision-making concerning socio-economic development and investment pathways in the country.

Abstract. Soil erosion decreases soil fertility of the uplands and causes siltation of lakes and reservoirs. However, very little data exists to quantify accurately the impact of sediment on lakes in tropical monsoonal areas in the African highlands. Lake Tana is one of these lakes in Ethiopia. The objective of this study is to quantify the sediment budget for Lake Tana watershed with limited observational data. To overcome these limitations we use the Parameter Efficient Distributed (PED) model that has shown to perform well in the Ethiopian highlands. PED model parameters are calibrated using daily discharge data and sediment concentration infrequently measured for establishing sediment rating curves for the major rivers. The calibrated model parameters are then used to predict the sediment budget for the period 1994–2009. Sediment retained in the lake is calculated from two bathymetric taken 15 years apart and the sediment leaving the lake is based on measured discharge and observed sediment concentrations. Results show that annually on average 34 Mg/ha/year of sediment is removed from the gauged part of the Lake Tana watersheds. Depending on the up scaling method, 14 to 32 Mg/ha/year is transported from the watershed of which 82% to 96% (with the upper estimate more likely) is trapped on the floodplains and in the lake.

Poor availability and accuracy of streamflow data constrain research and operational hydrology. We evaluated the status of 40 streamflow stations and the quality of their data in the Omo-Gibe basin, Ethiopia. The method included a three-week field inspection of the stations. Inspection of stations followed common WMO guidelines for appropriate gauging sites. Feedback of observers was collected, and the streamflow data was analysed. Most of the stations were installed on rivers at headwater catchments. Only 17% of the stations were fully operational; the remaining stations require major maintenance. Common problems with the time series data include short observation periods, large numbers of missing records, and inhomogeneity. Nearly all observers expressed dissatisfaction due to lack of supervision, uncertain salary payments and lack of recognition of their contribution. The findings of this study indicate the need to investigate the institutional barriers that affect the homogeneity, completeness, and timeliness of the stream data.

BACKGROUND: Despite substantial global effort and updated clinical management guidelines, diarrhea continues to be among leading worldwide causes of morbidity and mortality in children. Infectious diarrhea, the most common form of diarrhea causes substantial morbidity and mortality among children in developing countries, and the muddled use of antibiotics needs caution due to potential problems of drug-resistance. The aim of this study is to identify etiologies of diarrhea and drug susceptibility patterns of bacterial isolates in under-five children in refugee camps in Gambella Region, Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution- based matched case control study was conducted using a questionnaire-based interview from June to December 2017 in Pugnido and Teirkidi refugee camps. Stool samples were collected and parasites causing diarrhea were identified by wet mount microscopy. Conventional culture supplemented with API 20E identification kit was used to identify Salmonella and Shigella species. Antibiotic susceptibility of bacterial isolates was investigated by using the disk diffusion method. The association between etiologies and diarrhea was analyzed using McNemar test or Fisher exact test with 95% confidence interval at a level of significance of P < 0.05. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of enteric pathogens were 55 (41.0%) in diarrhea cases and 18 (13.4%) in healthy controls. The detected etiologies include Giardia lambia (28), Shigella spp. (16), E. hystolyotica/dispar (13), Ascaris lumbricoides (10), Salmonella spp. (6), Cryptosporidium parvum (6), Hymenolepis nana (4) and Isospora belli (3). All isolates were sensitive to kanamycine and ceftazidime. The high resistance rate was observed against ampicillin (100%), amoxicillin (100%), erythromycin (52%), chloramphenicol (47.5%), tetracycline (40.5%), cotrimoxazole (34.8%) and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (33%). The majorities of the isolates had a low rate of resistance to ciprofloxacin (8.7%), naldxic acid (8.7%) and amikacin (13%). CONCLUSIONS: Giardia lamblia, E. Hystolytica/dispar, and Shigella spp are the common etiologies of diarrhea in children in the studied refugee camps. The study also showed that significant numbers of bacterial isolates were resistant to the commonly used antimicrobial drugs. Therefore, improving clinical laboratory services and promoting evidence-based drug prescription may reinforce proper use of antibiotics and reduce the emergence of microbial resistance.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to pool out the available evidence on the effectiveness of the solar disinfection water treatment method for reducing childhood diarrhoea. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. SETTING: Global. METHODS: Searches were conducted in Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library databases and references to other studies. The review included all children living anywhere in the world regardless of sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status published in English until December 2019. Studies that compared the diarrhoea incidence between the intervention group who were exposed to solar disinfection water treatment and the control group who were not exposed to such water treatment were included. The outcome of interest was the change in observed diarrhoea incidence and the risk from baseline to postintervention. Two independent reviewers critically appraised the selected studies. Effect sizes were expressed as risk ratios, and their 95% CIs were calculated for analysis. RESULTS: We identified 10 eligible studies conducted in Africa, Latin America and Asia that included 5795 children aged from 1 to 15 years. In all identified studies, solar disinfection reduced the risk of diarrhoea in children, and the effect was statistically significant in eight of the studies. The estimated pooled risk ratio of childhood diarrhoea among participants that used the solar disinfection water treatment method was 0.62 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.72). The overall pooled results indicated that the intervention of solar disinfection water treatment had reduced the risk of childhood diarrhoea by 38%. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention of solar disinfection water treatment significantly reduced the risk of childhood diarrhoea. However, the risk of bias and marked heterogeneity of the included studies precluded definitive conclusions. Further high-quality studies are needed to determine whether solar disinfection water treatment is an important method to reduce childhood diarrhoea. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020159243.

BACKGROUND: Increasing nutrient intake through home gardening is a sustainable way to address multiple micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries. This study investigated the impact of permagarden intervention in increasing the frequency and diversity of vegetable and fruit consumption among vulnerable families in seven cities of Ethiopia. METHOD: A quasi-experimental study was conducted from August 10 to September 30, 2015. A total of 884 care givers (427 from intervention and 457 from control) participated in the study. Data were collected through face to face interviews with caregivers of highly vulnerable children. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used as implemented in STATA software. Program impact on the frequency and diversity of households' fruit and vegetable consumption between intervention and control groups was assessed using chi square test. RESULTS: Intervention participants had a 13% higher increase in frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption compared with control participants (p<0.01). Diversity (consumption of 2 or more groups of vegetable and fruit) is higher among intervention groups than control groups (percentage difference = 9, p-value<0.05). A significant higher percentage of participants in intervention group reported getting the one-week vegetable and fruit mainly from their own garden (percentage difference 58.3%, p<0.05). A significantly larger proportion of participants in the intervention group compared to control group reported "high likelihood" on intention to grow vegetables in the future (percentage difference = 30%, and P<0.01). Perceived importance to include vegetable in everyday meal was higher among intervention group participants than control group participants (percentage difference = 11.5%, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The observed higher FV intake among permagarden intervention group compared to control group suggest that nutrition and health programs need to promote permagarden as a means to improve FV intake among vulnerable societies in resource limited countries.

Street foods are ready-to-eat foods prepared and/or sold by vendors and hawkers in public places such as streets and plazas. Despite being widely available and affordable, they pose a significant public health risk. This study aims to assess the hygienic practices of street food vendors, sanitary condition of their stalls and associated factors in selected towns of Ethiopia. Community-based Cross-sectional study design was used from December 2022 to January 2023 in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa, Hawassa, and Jimma towns of Ethiopia. A total of 1168 street food-vending stalls were determined using a single population proportion formula. Proportional allocation to the total population of the towns was used to assign the number of street food vending stalls to each town and sub cities. The interviewer-administered questionnaire and an observational checklist were used to collect data. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were run using statistical Package for Social Sceinces (SPSS) V-23. The study included 926 street food vendors from Addis Ababa, 84 from Dire Dawa, 99 from Hawassa, and 59 from Jimma. The majority of respondents (86%) were female, with a mean age of 31.26. 60% of respondents were married, and 57% had completed primary school. 18% of street food vendors prepared their food on the street, with no shelter or shade. The overall good hygienic practices of the street food vendors were 16% while the good sanitary status of the vending stalls was 6.8 %. Sex, work experience, receiving training on food safety, having medical checkup, availability of hand washing facilities, and having good knowledge on food safety were predictors of good hygienic practice. Most of the street food vendors had poor hygienic practices as well as their vending stalls had poor sanitary conditions. Hence, encouragement and support for street food vendors to have improved water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities in the vicinity, along with strict regulations, will help the vendors provide safe food to consumers, thereby protecting the public's health.

BACKGROUND: Street foods are any foods or drinks prepared or sold by street vendors in an open space. The purpose of this study was to determine the Bacteriological safety and antibiotic resistance patterns of Staphylococcus aureus and Enterobacteriaceae isolated from street foods. METHOD: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was used from December 2022 to February 2023 on street foods of Addis Ababa, Hawassa, Dire Dawa, and Jimma towns of Ethiopia. 525 street foods and 175 water samples were taken from 175 street food vending stalls. Proportional allocation to the total town population and stratified sampling techniques were used to select vending stalls. Samples were analyzed for the presence of bacteria following the standard microbiological methods used for the isolation, enumeration, and identification of bacteria. Pour plate technique was used to transfer the suspension to MacConkey agar, Mannitol Salt Agar, and Salmonella Shigella Agar. The antibiotic susceptibility test was performed using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. SPSS software was used to analyze the data. RESULT: Out of 525 food samples, 279 (53%) were contaminated by bacteria. From 175 water samples, 95 (54.3%) were contaminated with Escherichia coli. From both samples in total, eleven bacterial species were isolated. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently isolated species. Shigella, Klebsiella, and Salmonella group A have statistically significant with the type of food. Erythromycin (54%), Streptomycin (17%), and Amoxicillin (14%) were the most resistant antibiotics. Least resistance was observed to Ciprofloxacin (5%). CONCLUSION: Street foods of the selected towns were highly contaminated with various antibiotic-resistant organisms. Hence, the relevant authorities ought to ensure the proper handling of street food by enforcing safety measures. Additionally, they should initiate a widespread awareness campaign promoting the prudent use of antibiotics among both street food vendors and the broader population.

Abstract Background: Diarrhea is still appeared to be as one of the leading global killers and disability-adjusted life-years lost, particularly in the infant and children. As per WHO, about 88% of diarrhea-related deaths are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and insufficient hygiene, mainly in developing world. Thus, the main objective of this study was to find out the risk of such factors that contribute for diarrhea-related infant mortality in Eastern Ethiopia. Methods: This study employed community based unmatched nested case-control study design in Eastern Ethiopia. The cases were infants who died from diarrheal disease while controls were those who survived their first year of life from September, 2016 to August, 2018. A total of 305 study subjects (61 cases and 244 controls) were included in the study. Infants dying from diarrhea were compared to four neighborhood controls in terms of several risk components of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Data were collected from mothers/care takers of infants using pre-tested structured questionnaires, and entered onto CSpro version 5.1 and transform to SPSS version 23 to analyzed potential risk factors. Findings: Finding of this study revealed that the risk factors such as age of mother with &lt;20 years old, unsafe drinking water storage, infants in households without point-of-use water treatment practices, households with unimproved sanitation status, unsafe disposing of child faeces and improper management of solid waste found to be significantly less likely to contribute infants dying from diarrhea than those with their reference group. Infants in households with improper management of liquid waste management strongly association which had three times more likely to occur diarrhea-related infant death (AOR: 3.43, 95% CI: 1.34, 8.76). Infants whose mother/caretaker practiced hand washing with less critical time (one-two occasions) had three times greater risk to infant death from diarrhoea than those who had practice more than three critical times of hand washing (AOR: 3.04, 95% CI: 1.13, 8.17). Conclusion: This study suggests that infants in households with improper management of liquid waste and hand washing practices with fewer occasions (one-two critical time) are a greater risk of getting a diarrhea-related infant death. Therefore, efforts should be made to ensure intervention taking such risk factors into consideration, typically in the infantile period. Key words: Diarrhea-related Infant Mortality, Risk factors, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Introduction: Street foods are foods and beverages as either ready for direct consumption or minimally processed, prepared, and/or sold by vendors and handlers. The objective of this study was to explore the condition and governance of street foods in Ethiopia. Method: A qualitative exploratory study was employed from December 2022 to January 2023 in Addis Ababa, Hawassa, Dire Dawa, and Jimma, cities of Ethiopia. Twelve respondents comprised key informants from selected governmental sectors were interviewed. The purposive sampling method was used to recruit study participants. The number of participants interviewed was determined by the information saturation criterion, and data were collected at the interviewee's offices. Data were collected by using key informant interview technique and audio recorded. An interview guide was used to facilitate interviews and thematic analysis was employed. The Overall data management process was conducted using Atlas-ti V 8 software. Result: The result revealed there were 4 thematic areas these were street food vendors and vending process, policy content and implementation, integration and coordination of sectors, and the way forward. The street food vendors prepared their food in an insanitary manner, absence of common working places for the vendors, lack of due emphasis for the street food vendors in the national food and nutrition policy, lack of formalization and legalization of street food vendors, poor coordination among sectors and institutions work on street food governance, and weakness on the implementation of rules and regulations in controlling street food vendors were the prominent gaps that were identified in the policy. Conclusion: Though Ethiopia has a national food and nutrition policy, the policy doesn't adequately address the street food vending sector. Besides, it is not well communicated to the implementers resulting in poor policy implementation. Quantifying socio-economic benefits of street food vending activities in Ethiopia needs further investigation.

Aflatoxin contamination in peanut oil poses significant health, agricultural, and environmental risks. This study assesses the effectiveness of advanced technologies and One Health strategies in mitigating these risks. Through systematic review and meta-analysis, we evaluate the effectiveness of integrated approaches. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science (September 2010-September 2024) on aflatoxin mitigation in peanut oil. We included studies involving agricultural, health, and environmental interventions, focusing on Aflasafe, ozonation, and One Health strategies. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to calculate pooled effect sizes. Our review of 30 studies, including five meta-analyses, highlights that advanced mitigation methods like Aflasafe (90%, 95% CI: 85%-95%), Ozonation (85%, 95% CI: 70%-95%), and Biological Control (80%, 95% CI: 70%-90%) significantly reduce aflatoxin contamination in peanut oil. However, reduced efficacy was observed, with dexification found to be 58% (95% CI: 52%-64%) and a pooled effect size of 77% (95% CI: 67%-87%). One Health strategies also show substantial impact, with the highest effect size of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.81-1.00) through Aflasafe training, followed by integrated agricultural, environmental, and health education (0.70, 95% CI: 0.58-0.82) and health-sector risk awareness (0.68, 95% CI: 0.57-0.79), yielding a pooled effect size of 0.75 (95% CI: 0.70-0.80). This review highlights the effectiveness of advanced technologies and One Health strategies in reducing aflatoxin contamination in peanut oil. Combining Aflasafe, ozonation, and One Health approaches offers a promising strategy for both immediate control and sustainable management. Future research should prioritize cost-effective technologies and community-based interventions to enhance impact and scalability, especially in resource-limited settings.

ABSTRACT This study characterized the hydro-chemical characteristics of groundwater for assessing the possibility of managed aquifer recharge in Hawassa City. A total of 48 water samples were taken from hand-dug wells and boreholes and examined to determine the water type, critical metrics, and key determinants of water quality. Multivariate statistical techniques such as hierarchical cluster, principal component, and linear discriminant analysis were used. The samples were divided into four variable groups and four case cluster groups. The results depicted the water hardness group (C1), soil salinity group (C2), weak and strong acids forming group (C3), and pollution indicator group (C4). Four water types were identified, Na–HCO3 and Ca–Na–HCO3 (87.5%), Ca–HCO3, and Na–Cl. Na–HCO3 was the dominant in hand-dug wells than in deep boreholes, which may account for evaporation or contaminations. Seven principal components with a cumulative variance of 78.58% were also formed. The first two, hardness and salinity, contributed 25.4 and 11.4% variance, respectively. In linear discriminate analysis, three discriminate functions with eight variables were generated, namely pH, K+, Na+, Ca2+, HCO3−, Cl−, BOD5, and COD. Thus, it is revealed that the decline in water quality attributed to natural and anthropogenic causes.

Abstract Background Land use, land cover, and climate change impacts are current global challenges that are affecting many sectors, like agricultural production, socioeconomic development, water quality, and causing land fragmentation. In developing countries like Uganda, rural areas with high populations that are dependent on agriculture, are the most affected. The development of sustainable management measures requires proper identification of drivers and impacts on the environment and livelihoods of the affected communities. This study applied drivers, pressure, state, impact, and response model in the L. Kyoga basin to determine the drivers and impacts of land use, land cover, and climate change on livelihoods and the environment. The objective of this study was to determine the drivers and impacts of land use, land cover, and climate changes on the environment and livelihoods in the L. Kyoga basin, and suggest sustainable mitigation measures. Focus group discussions, key informant interviews, field observations, and literature reviews were used to collect data. Results Population increase and climate change were the leading drivers, while agriculture and urbanization were the primary pressures, leading to degraded land, wetlands, and forests; loss of soil fertility, hunger, poverty, poor water quality, which are getting worse. The local communities, government, and non-government institutions had responses to impacts, which included the use of agrochemicals, restoration, and conservation approaches. Most responses had promising results, although they were at a small/pilot scale level. It was also found that the application of policies and regulations to manage impacts was weak. Conclusion Land use, land cover changes, and climate change are taking place in the L. Kyoga basin with major impacts on land, water, and community livelihoods. With the observed increase in climate change and population growth, there is a potential of drivers and impacts getting worse. It is therefore important to expand interventions, provide relief, review policies and regulations, and enforce them. The findings are useful for decisions and policymakers to design appropriate management options.

Abstract Background Increasing nutrient intake through home gardening is a sustainable strategy that can address multiple micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries. This study investigated the impact of permagarden intervention in increasing the frequency and diversity of vegetable and fruit consumption among vulnerable families. Method A quasi-experimental study was conducted from August 10 to September 30, 2015. A total of 884 care givers (427 from intervention and 457 control) participated in the study. Data was collected through face to face interview with caregivers of highly vulnerable children. Propensity score matching (PSM) was conducted using STATA software, and the program impact on the frequency and diversity of household’s vegetable consumption between intervention and control groups was assessed using chi square test. Result Intervention participants had a 13% greater increase frequency of one-week vegetables and fruits consumption compared with control participants (p&lt;0.01). The diversity (consumption of 2 and more groups of vegetable and fruit) is higher among intervention groups than control groups (percentage difference=9, p-value&lt;0.05). A significant higher percentage of participants in the intervention group reported getting the one-week vegetable and fruits mainly from their own garden (percentage difference 58.3, p&lt;0.05). A significantly larger proportion of participants in the intervention group compared to the control group reported “high likelihood” on intention to grow vegetable in the future (percentage difference = 30%, and P&lt;0.01). Perceived importance to include vegetables in every day meal is higher among intervention groups than control groups (percentage difference = 11.5%, P&lt;0.01). Conclusions The observed higher frequency and diversity of household vegetable consumption among intervention group compared to control group suggests that nutrition and health programs need to promote household vegetable gardening as the means for address improve micro nutrient intake for vulnerable societies in least and middle developed countries.

Abstract Background: A significant decline in malaria burden was documented in previously high burden African countries. Even though the global decline in malaria burden was significant, about 95% of it was typically found in 29 African countries. The considerable reduction in malaria incidence was noted due to effective prevention and treatment efforts, and rapid changes in living conditions. The relationship between the occurrence of asymptomatic malaria infection and household living conditions is well unstudied. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the association between household living conditions and the occurrence of asymptomatic malaria in the lowlands of Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study conducted in twelve villages of Gambella, SNNPR and Afar in Ethiopia. A total of 1366 households were randomly selected, interviewed, and tested for malaria by Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) and blood film microscopic examination. Results: Dwellings built with traditional wall materials (p = 0.050), spending nights with cattle in the same house (p=0.000), and availability of a kitchen in the main house with no partition (p = 0.004), were significantly associated with asymptomatic malaria infection after adjusting for the effect of other confounding variables. Conclusions: Policies and strategies on malaria elimination need to address or target improvements of living conditions of rural residents.

Abstract Background Water erosion, upland degradation and deforestation are key environmental problems in the Meki river watershed. The study assessed the land use land cover change (LULCC) for 30 years and it examined the contribution of indigenous Enset-Based land use system (EBLUS) to reduce soil erosion and prevent water bodies including Lake Ziway from sedimentation which was not considered in the former studies. GPS based data collected and satellite based LULC analysis using ERDAS Imagine 2014 performed to investigate existing farm management practices and land cover respectively. HEC-GEOHMS, Geo-statistical interpolation and RUSLE were applied to model watershed characteristics, spatial climate parameters and soil loss respectively. Result Meki river watershed (2110.4sq.km of area) is dominantly covered by cultivated LUS (41.5%), EBLUS (10.65%), Bush and Chat LUS (25.6%), Forest and plantations LUS (14.14%), built-up (7.4%) and water bodies (0.75%). Soil loss is increasing from 1987 to 2017 and a larger part of the watershed suffers a moderately severe to very severe risk (18 t ha -1 yr -1 to &gt;80 t ha -1 yr -1 ) in all sub-watersheds irrespective of the land use systems which shows the watershed is facing sever degradation problem. The mean soil loss of 30.5 t ha -1 yr -1 and 31.905 t ha -1 yr -1 are verified from Enset growing zones and non-Enset growing zones of the watershed respectively. Conclusion EBLUS saves significant amount of soil despite the steepness of the slopes of the Enset growing zones of the watershed. Hence, expansion of EBLUS can contribute in sustaining water bodies, including Lake Ziway by reducing soil loss rate and sedimentation problem for the ecological sustainability of the watershed. Therefore, separate land use policy and awareness creation are mandatory for such EBLUS expansion, sustainable watershed management interventions and conservation of the natural environment in the watershed based on its suitability and severity of erosion risk mapping.

Climate Forecast System Reanalysis data offer a promising database for overcoming the limitations in availability and reliability of climatological data and, hence, for understanding the hydrological processes. Using these data on grid-by-grid, seasonal and yearly scales, the present study attempts to advance the spatiotemporal evaluation of two radiation-based (Priestley–Taylor and Makkink) and three temperature-based (Hargreaves–Samani, Thornthwaite and Blaney–Criddle), against estimates of grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo) by FAO Penman-Monteith method (FAO-PM). The analysis was performed for the period 1979–2013, considering the second largest (79,000 km2) river system in Ethiopia, i.e. Omo-Gibe basin, which accommodates national parks and vast hydropower, cultivation and afforestation developments and discharges its flow to Lake Turkan in Kenya. To comprehensively explain the pattern of PET, the influences of temperatures, rainfall, wind speed, radiation, relative humidity and elevation on PET were also examined. The results emphasize the outperformance of Hargreaves-Samani method. In overall, both the annual and seasonal FAO-PM estimates are captured by this method for most of the grid locations. Annual trends in ETo in the upper region increased but rainfall trends decreased. These trends might negatively impact the rain-fed food production by reducing soil moisture availability in the river basin. Comparatively, trends in rainfall in the middle and lower regions increased with a higher magnitude while ETo increased with a smaller magnitude compared. The above-mentioned trends in ETo are attributable to rising temperature and decreasing relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation, respectively. If these trends would continue, we would expect increase in soil moisture for sugarcane plantation in the middle and lower region and attenuation of water loss from reservoirs in the river basin. This study improves the understanding of the best potential evapotranspiration methods in similar data-scarce river basins in Ethiopia or other transboundary rivers in the region or worldwide.

Background Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a virus that occurred in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has spread to several countries. Although interventions in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) for COVID-19 are likely a pre-existing response to childhood diarrhea, evidence of the effects of COVID-19 preventative strategies on childhood diarrhea has been lacking. This study aimed to assess the implications of COVID-19 prevention for the occurrence of childhood diarrhea in rural communities of Ethiopia. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from 10 May 2020 to 30 July 2020 involving selected households in the Semen Bench district, Bench Sheko zone, southwestern Ethiopia. A single population proportion formula was used to obtain a total of 768 sample sizes. Data were collected from selected households using a simple random sampling technique. Epidata 3.1 was used to enter the data and then exported to Stata 14 for analysis. Descriptive statistics along with binary and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors of COVID-19 knowledge and practices related to childhood diarrhea. The chi-squared test was used to check the association between COVID-19 prevention and childhood diarrhea reduction. Results A total of 720 (93.75%) households participated in the study to achieve the study objectives. Approximately 55% of the participants had a good understanding of COVID-19 prevention, while only 48.5% had good COVID-19 prevention practices. The prevalence of childhood diarrhea was 19.3% which was more common among households with poor practices of COVID-19 prevention. The respondents with poor COVID-19 prevention knowledge were 42% (AOR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.398, 0.847, P = 0.005) less likely to develop childhood diarrhea than those who had good COVID-19 prevention knowledge. Households with poor practices for COVID-19 prevention were 75.1% more likely to develop childhood diarrhea than those who had good preventive practices for COVID-19 prevention (AOR = 1.751, 95% CI: 1.193, 2.571, P = 0.004). The lower risk of childhood diarrhea is significantly related to good COVID-19 prevention practices. However, households with no formal education and a lack of WASH facilities have a higher likelihood of having childhood diarrhea in the household. Conclusion COVID-19 preventative strategies help reduce the prevalence of diarrhea in children. More research using prospective study designs and advanced statistical models is needed to better understand the implication of COVID-19 preventative efforts in reducing childhood diarrhea.