Trends of Severe Acute Malnutrition Morbidity and Mortality (2014–2017), Bale Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, 2018

Background Malnutrition is a serious disease and remains an important public health problem in many developing countries including Ethiopia. Malnutrition is one of the diseases under the surveillance system which is reported weekly and monthly. In the Bale zone, malnutrition is one of the major public health problems. Therefore, this trend analysis of severe acute malnutrition was to describe the magnitude, trends, disease outcome and geographical distribution of the severe acute malnutrition in Bale Zone from 2014-2017. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on April 2018. Data was extracted from Bale zone monthly malnutrition report database and checked for completeness and consistency then four years’ trends of severe acute malnutrition were analyzed. The prevalence and trend of severe acute malnutrition by Woreda, year and age were analyzed using Microsoft office excel and SPSS version 20 then summarized using text, table, and figure. Result A total of 37,678 severe acute malnutrition cases registered over four years (2014-2017). Of these, 31,642(84%) cured, 52(0.14%) died, 641(1.7%) defaulters, 66(0.18%) non-respondents. Among registered cases, 98.2% are 6-59months age groups. The average annual prevalence of severe acute malnutrition high among under-five children was 3.3%. Prevalence rate per 1000 population of severe acute malnutrition in 2014, 2015,2016 and 2017 are 3.6, 4.5, 7.5 and 4.7 respectively and death rate are 0.21%, 0.26%, 0.1% and 0.08% respectively. Among the Woreda, the highest prevalence at Delomena (2.45%) and lowest at Sinana woreda (0.1%). The death rate is high among 6-59months age groups (0.13%) and followed by less than 6months age group (0.008%). Conclusion Cases of severe acute malnutrition increased during the year 2014 to 2016 then decreased during 2017. The prevalence of severe acute malnutrition high in under-five age groups children at Bale zone during the study period and Delomena Woreda has