Prospects for tuberculosis elimination in Ethiopia: feasibility, challenges, and opportunities.

To end the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic and eliminate TB, countries around the world committed to significantly expanding the scope of their efforts, including rapid uptake of new tools, interventions, and strategies, and envisioned a world free of TB. Between 2010 and 2020, Ethiopia experienced a 5% average annual decline in TB incidence. However, at that current rate, ending the TB epidemic (<10 TB cases/100,000 population) may not be possible soon.

Factors Determining Treatment Success in Children with Drug-Sensitive Tuberculosis in Ethiopia: A Three-Year Retrospective Analysis.

This study in the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia assessed the outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) treatment among children younger than 15 years. Retrospective data were collected on treatment outcomes and their determinants for children with TB for the cohorts of 2012-2014 enrolled in 40 hospitals and 137 health centers. Chi-square tests, -tests, and logistic regression were used for the analysis.

Use of indicators of standards of care to improve tuberculosis program management in Ethiopia.

Background: Systematic monitoring of health programs and on-site mentoring of health workers are essential for the success of health care. This operations research was designed to measure the effectiveness of a new mentorship and supervisory tool for supervisors.

Methods: In 2011 the Help Ethiopia Address the Low TB Performance (HEAL TB) Project used WHO or national TB indicators as standards of care (SOC) for baseline assessment, progress monitoring, gap identification, assessment of health workers' capacity-building needs, and data quality assurance.

Vitamin D deficiency among smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients and their tuberculosis negative household contacts in Northwest Ethiopia: a case-control study.

Background: Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that increases the immunity against tuberculosis (TB), decreases the re-activation of latent TB and reduces the severity of active TB disease. Epidemiological studies on the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, and its association with TB showed inconsistent results in different countries. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its association with TB in Northwest Ethiopia.

The experience of scaling up a decentralized, ambulatory model of care for management of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in two regions of Ethiopia.

Strong strategies, including proven service delivery models, are needed to address the growing global threat of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in low- and middle-income settings. The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of the nationally approved ambulatory service delivery model for MDR-TB treatment in two regions of Ethiopia. We used routinely reported data to describe the process and outcomes of implementing an ambulatory model for MDR-TB services in a resource-limited setting.

The Yield of Community-Based "Retrospective" Tuberculosis Contact Investigation in a High Burden Setting in Ethiopia.

Objective: To determine the yield and determinants of retrospective TB contact investigation in selected zones in Ethiopia.

Materials And Methods: This was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted during June-October 2014.Trained lay providers performed symptom screening for close contacts of index cases with all types of TB registered for anti-TB treatment within the last three years.

The additional yield of GeneXpert MTB/RIF test in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis among household contacts of smear positive TB cases.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the diagnostic yield of GeneXpert MTB/RIF with Ziehl-Neelson (ZN) sputum smear microscopy among index TB cases and their household contacts.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among sputum smear positive index TB cases and their household contacts in Northern Ethiopia.

Results: Of 353 contacts screened, 41 (11%) were found to have presumptive TB.

Uptake of Isoniazid Preventive Therapy among Under-Five Children: TB Contact Investigation as an Entry Point.

A child's risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) can be reduced by nearly 60% with administration of 6 months course of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT). However, uptake of IPT by national TB programs is low, and IPT delivery is a challenge in many resource-limited high TB-burden settings. Routinely collected program data was analyzed to determine the coverage and outcome of implementation of IPT for eligible under-five year old children in 28 health facilities in two regions of Ethiopia.

Decentralization of Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) External Quality Assurance Using Blind Rechecking for Sputum Smear Microscopy in Ethiopia.

Introduction: Ethiopia achieved a rapid expansion of TB microscopic centers for acid fast bacilli (AFB). However, external quality assurance (EQA) services were, until recently, limited to few regional and sub-regional laboratories. In this paper, we describe the decentralization experience and the result of EQA using random blinded rechecking.