Burden of NCDs in SNNP region, Ethiopia: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are medical conditions or diseases that are non-transmissible. As NCDs are becoming one of major public health problem, providing local description of diseases and injuries is key to health decision- making and planning processes. So, this study aimed to describe caseload of NCDs in Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region, Ethiopia. METHODS: A facility based retrospective study was conducted in February 2015 in SNNPR, Ethiopia. A total of 22,320 records of three years retrieved from 23 health facilities using systematic sampling. Data were entered in to Epi-Info 3.5.3 and descriptive analysis was carried out using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: From 22,320 records reviewed, 6633 (29.7%) clients visited health facilities due to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Majority (37.2%) of NCD cases were in productive age groups (20–35 year). Near to half (43%) of NCD cases were from rural and 45.8% were females. Digestive disorder (26.7%), cardiovascular diseases (18.8%) and Diabetes Mellitus (13.1%) were the most prevalent types of NCDs. CONCLUSION: Health facilities are burdened with significant proportion of clients with NCDs. Young population accounts large share and NCDs are becoming public health problem of urban and rural area within a health care system that focus on communicable diseases. There is a need to strengthen the health system to work towards NCDs, and investigate risk factors associated with NCDs at individual level.