Factors associated with irregular consumption of fruits and vegetables among health professionals in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) are an essential food group for humans and prevent non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The objective of this study is to know the level of consumption of F&Vs by health professionals in Ouagadougou and their determinants. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from May to August 2016 in the Central Region of Burkina Faso. It included 442 health workers according to cluster sampling. Data collection tools consisted of frequency of food consumption of fruits and vegetables.  The results showed that the level of F&Vs consumption among health professionals is very low. Only 11.5% of respondents consumed fruits every day and 21.8% did the same for vegetables and 1.4% of health professionals consumed more than five servings of F&Vs per day. Only 1.6% of health professionals surveyed had sufficient knowledge of the functions of F&Vs, and 85.8% were not aware of the recommendations of World Health Organizations regarding the consumption of F&Vs. Gender, distance from the fruit supply, and average monthly financial income were associated with the irregularity of the fruit consumption at the threshold of 5% in the univariate analysis. However, in the multivariate analysis, gender, profession, distance from fruit supply and average monthly financial income were predictive of irregular fruit consumption. The level of F&Vs consumption in health professionals is low, as is their level of knowledge of the functions of F&Vs.

National Healthcare System Development of Ethiopia: A Systematic Narrative Review

Objective: To describe the evidence on the development of the National Healthcare System in Ethiopia.  Method: The databases Embase, Ovid Emcare, Ovid MEDLINE, and Scopus were searched, together with the reference lists of the identified articles, relevant reports and books were searched. Articles were included if they described health services development in Ethiopia. Results: In Ethiopia, medical care has historically been performed by traditional healers who use magic and superstition. Over time, modern medicine continued to develop, and by 2014, 5% of Ethiopia’s total Gross Domestic Product was spent on health. In 2017, nearly 1.26 healthcare workers per 1000 population provided services through 21,071 healthcare organizations, with the majority being rural health posts. There are shortages of healthcare workers and limited numbers of hospitals. However, the introduction of the Health Extension Program and Health Extension Workers has improved access to healthcare in the country and could be a model for other African nations. Conclusion: Although the health care strategies introduced by the Ethiopian government have improved some health issues, accessibility to healthcare institutions that provide curative services is limited.

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