Translating Health Evidence for Oromia Communities: An Afaan Oromo Knowledge Translation Series on Maternal Health, Nutrition Security, and Food Systems in Rural and Pastoral Ethiopia

Background: Afaan Oromo is spoken by over 40 million people across the Oromia Regional State of Ethiopia, yet the vast majority of peer-reviewed health research relevant to Oromo communities exists exclusively in English, creating a structural barrier between published evidence and the health workers, community leaders, and policymakers who most need to act on it. The Oromo Health Knowledge Bridge (OHKB) was established to bridge this gap through systematic, community-centered knowledge translation.

Objective: This volume presents five peer-reviewed studies on food security, maternal healthcare utilization, health communication, health system performance, and maternal malnutrition across Oromia and rural Ethiopia. Each study is rendered in three layers: a full technical abstract with clinical fidelity, a plain-language Afaan Oromo summary accessible to community health workers, and a bilingual medical glossary with culturally contextualized clinical definitions. An implementation note anchors each study's findings to actionable priorities for Oromia's health system.

Methods: Source articles were identified through structured review of PubMed, Google Scholar, and African Journals Online. Summaries and glossaries were prepared following ICMJE authorship and reporting standards. Afaan Oromo translations were reviewed by bilingual contributors with community health backgrounds.

Results: Five studies are presented spanning food and nutrition security (Eastern Oromia, n=461), maternal healthcare utilization (East Borena Zone, n=416), mass media and maternal health across Africa (25-study narrative review), Ethiopia's national maternal and neonatal mortality trajectory (2000–2020), and predictors of maternal malnutrition across Ethiopia (24-study meta-analysis, n=12,893).

Conclusion: This series demonstrates a replicable model for community-driven health knowledge translation in under-resourced linguistic communities, designed to serve district health offices, NGOs, health extension workers, and community leaders operating in Oromia and across the broader Oromo diaspora.

Published through the OHKB Research Translation Series.
DOI-indexed public health knowledge translation publication.