title: Emerging chronic non-communicable diseases in rural communities of Northern Ethiopia: evidence using population-based verbal autopsy method in Kilite Awlaelo surveillance site.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In countries where most deaths are outside health institutions and medical certification of death is absent, verbal autopsy (VA) method is used to estimate population level causes of death.
  
  
  METHODS
  VA data were collected by trained lay interviewers for 409 deaths in the surveillance site. Two physicians independently assigned cause of death using the International Classification of Diseases manual.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In general, infectious and parasitic diseases accounted for 35.9% of death, external causes 15.9%, diseases of the circulatory system 13.4% and perinatal causes 12.5% of total deaths. Mortalities attributed to maternal causes and malnutrition were low, 0.2 and 1.5%, respectively. Causes of death varied by age category. About 22.1, 12.6 and 8.4% of all deaths of under 5-year-old children were due to bacterial sepsis of the newborn, acute lower respiratory infections such as neonatal pneumonia and prematurity including respiratory distress, respectively. For 5-15-year-old children, accidental drowning and submersion, accounting for 34.4% of all deaths in this age category, and accidental fall, accounting for 18.8%, were leading causes of death. Among 15-49-year-old adults, HIV/AIDS (16.3%) and tuberculosis (12.8%) were commonest causes of death, whereas tuberculosis and cerebrovascular diseases were major killers of those aged 50 years and above.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the rural district, mortality due to chronic non-communicable diseases was very high. The observed magnitude of death from chronic non-communicable disease is unlikely to be unique to this district. Thus, formulation of chronic disease prevention and control strategies is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Mekelle University, P.O. Box 1871, Mekelle, Ethiopia. berheph@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Berhe
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weldearegawi
authors.forename: Yemane
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ashebir
authors.forename: Ejigu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gebeye
authors.forename: Tesfay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gebregziabiher
authors.forename: Mekonnen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yohannes
authors.forename: Seid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mussa
authors.forename: Haftu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Berhe
authors.forename: Zerihun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Abebe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000401:mortality*; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012424:Rural Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ethiopia; HDSS; Verbal autopsy; non-communicable diseases; physician review