ABSTRACT
This chapter presents available information, usually based on hospital statistics and limited numbers of patients, about major chronic noninfectious disorders in Ethiopian adults. Population-based statistics of noncommunicable diseases are not available in Ethiopia. However, chronic noninfectious diseases are emerging and increasingly being recognized as important public health problems causing significant morbidity and mortality, and often, great expense to the health services. About 6% of adult medical hospitalizations are due to genitourinary diseases, the commonest problems being acute glomerulonephritis, nephrotic syndrome, chronic renal failure, and nephrolithiasis. Although chronic liver disease is prevalent among Ethiopians, ascites must not automatically be attributed to it: treatable causes, especially tuberculous peritonitis, 17% of cases in one series, must be considered. Hyperpigmentation of the face and hands is the common clinical feature of chronic liver disease in Ethiopians, and biochemical and histopathological investigation of 25 patients suggested that this is an early or latent form of porphyria cutanea tarda.
