Abstract
PURPOSE: Tuberculosis is a common global public health problem. Ethiopia is among the thirty top Tuberculosis burden countries. Trends of tuberculosis disease in general and at the district level in the Bale Zone have not been assessed and no adequate information existed for informed decision-making. This study was to describe the trends and physical distribution of the tuberculosis disease in the Bale Zone from 2013 to 2018. METHODS: We reviewed the reported data of tuberculosis from 2013 to 2018 in March 2019 and extracted data of tuberculosis from the Bale Zone health information system database. Analysis of the six-year data of tuberculosis was conducted after the data was cleaned and checked for completeness. RESULTS: We recruited a total of 11, 268 tuberculosis cases. The proportions of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (SS+), sputum smear-negative tuberculosis (SS-), and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) cases were 40.4%, 29.6% and 30%, respectively. Of all cases, 81.9% are aged greater than 15 years. Prevalence of all types of tuberculosis was 0.005%, 0.127%, 0.133%, 0.136%, 0.131% and 0.093% in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. The death rate from positive pulmonary tuberculosis was 0%. 2.74, 2.10, 2.06, 1.04, and 2.75 in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively. The highest average prevalence rate was 198, 152 and 142 per 100,000 populations in Berbere, Rayitu, and Gura-Dhamole Woreda, respectively. CONCLUSION: The proportion of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis was high in the Bale Zone. Bale Zone should give more attention to the Tuberculosis program to tackle sputum smear positive. We recommended researchers investigate further research to identify determinants in districts with a high prevalence rate of tuberculosis.