Ethiopia’s Efforts To Increase DOTS Coverage Successful

Efforts to increase DOTS coverage in Ethiopia have proven successful since the strategy was implemented 10 years ago to slow the spread of tuberculosis, the Walta Information Center reports. Ethiopia in 1996 recorded a treatment success rate of 76% among the more than 124,000 TB patients covered by DOTS. The following year, the country recorded a treatment success rate of 81% among 125,135 TB patients. Ethiopia's efforts to increase its DOTS coverage rate from 50% include modernizing health institutions, training professionals and providing health care facilities with proper medical equipment, according to Zerihun Tadesse, head of TB and Leprosy Diseases Prevention and Control within the Ministry of Health(Walta Information Center, 1/4).