TITLE:
Treatment success rate of tuberculosis patients in Dabat, northwest Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Sebsibe Tadesse, Takele Tadesse
KEYWORDS:
DOTS Strategy; Treatment Success Rate; Ethiopia
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.6 No.5,
February
21,
2014
ABSTRACT: Evaluating the
outcomes of DOTS program is essential for recognizing and amending system
failures before the incidence and proportion of resistant isolates rise. In
this study, we seek to evaluate the impact of DOTS strategy on tuberculosis
treatment success rate in Dabat, northwest Ethiopia. Medical records of 1305
pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis patients registered from 2007 to 2012
at two health centers in Dabat district, northwest Ethiopia, were reviewed.
Treatment outcomes and forms of tuberculosis were assessed according to WHO guidelines. Descriptive analyses were performed
using frequencies and percentages. Treatment success rate was observed in 1146
(87.8%) patients. Out of these, 534 (89.1%) of the males and 612 (86.7%) of the
females were successfully treated. It was also true in 338 (87.8%) of the
smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients, 473 (85.7%) of the
smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis patients, and 335 (91.0%) of the
extrapulmonary tuberculosis patients. In conclusion, treatment success rate
in the current study was slightly higher than the WHO international updated
target for the period 2011 to 2015. However, this doesn’t mean that there will
be no need for further enhancement of supervision and monitoring techniques, strengthening counseling and health
education programs, and improving the quality of laboratory diagnostic services.