ABSTRACT
Tuberculosis is a major health problem in Sudan, a country that carries 11-15% of the tuberculosis burden in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology of tuberculosis in River Nile State and to compare treatment outcomes with WHO recommended indicators. A descriptive study was conducted on data collected from records of 1221 patients registered at tuberculosis management units over the 3 years 2011-2013. The mean age of cases was 37.7 [SD 21.5] years and 65.9% were males; 76.3% were pulmonary tuberculosis and 36.9% were sputum smear-positive cases. Average values for all outcome indicators were suboptimal, notably rates of case notification [30.8 per 100 000], case detection [10.3%], treatment success [79.6%], treatment failure [3.0%], default [8.1%] and death [8.0%]. Of the 264 patients tested for HIV, 3.8% were positive. Outcome indicators tor the national tuberculosis control programme are lagging behind the required targets