QUALITY AND TREATMENT OUTCOMES OF DIRECTLY OBSERVED TREATMENT OF SHORT-COARSE OF TUBERCULOSIS (DOTS) IN SOUTH WEST ETHIOPIAN: A COHORT STUDY

Background: TB is one of the world’s leading causes of death and of the global burden of disease. It is estimated that at 36 million will die of TB if proper control measures are not instituted. Assessing the quality of Directly Observe Short-Course Treatment of Tuberculosis can have significant importance in evaluating Tb control activities and in identifying area of improvements for better and effective Tb control strategies. Objective: To assess the quality and treatment outcome of directly observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) of Tuberculosis in south West Ethiopian in Public Health facilities. Methods: Prospective cohort study was employed using both semi-structured and structured questionnaires and phase to phase observation and interview. The study populations were all Tb patients who enrolled during study period until they finished their treatment, drop out and or death. Treatment outcome was obtained from patients’ charts and direct clinical examination. Results: From 324 patients enrolled and followed for treatment outcomes, 279(87.45%) of the patients were completed their treatment, 45(13.8%) were transferred out to other health facilities by referral system and none of the patients were defaulted from the treatment or discontinued the treatment. From the total patients who completed the treatment 221(68.8%) were totally cured, 45 (13.8%) were failed to cure and the death rate were 4% (13) Conclusion and Recommendation: The overall quality of TB care indicated that 26.1% of the patients received poor quality of care. The finding of this study indicated that there was a weak supervision pattern and the supervision pattern was also unplanned, inconsistent and lack feedback. Finally the outcomes of DOTS cure rate is only 68.8%.