This Standard Treatment Guideline is prepared to improve the treatment practice of health workers at all levels. It does not however, provide all the necessary references to establish the diagnosis of the disease/illness for which the patient is visiting the health care system. It assumes that health workers at various levels have the required training and competence to make diagnosis that is appropriate for that level. In light of this the guideline has been organized by level of use, from Zonal Hospital to Health Station.

Once diagnosis is established, the guideline is useful to administer the most appropriate drug, in the Ethiopian context, using the right dose of drug for the right duration of treatment. It also gives the recognized side effects, contraindications and other useful information about each drug. All drugs included in the Standard Treatment Guideline are those that are included in the current National Drug List for Ethiopia.

Diseases are categorized according to the nature of the disease, the population most affected by the disease, and other conditions requiring special attention. Thus it contains major infectious and noninfectious disease according to the first criteria; major obstetric/gynecological and pediatric diseases according to the second criteria; and other conditions such as sexually transmitted diseases, skin disorders and acute emergencies as per the third criteria. One can search the document and obtain the necessary information based on the above criteria. For quick reference, the list of diseases included in the STG and the drugs recommended are organized in the index at the end of the guideline.

This is the first attempt to formulate a Standard Treatment Guideline for the country. Your comments and Suggestion on the use of the guideline could go towards improving subsequent editions, and therefore, you are requested to send these to the Drug Administration and Control Authority.