There are only few studies done on burden of disease inrnEthiopia. This study was conducted in Butajira, SouthernrnEthiopia, with the aim of describing the burden ofrndisease in the community using the Disability AdjustedrnLife Years (DALYs) lost method.rnA cross - sectional household survey was carried out inrn835 randomly selected households among which a structuredrnquestionnaire was administered to assess the cause andrnmagnitude of morbidity. For determining the cause andrnmagnitude of mortality, verbal autopsy questionnaire werernadministered to the bereaved relatives of the deceasedrnwithin the previous two years within the studyrnpopulation.rnEstablishing the causes of morbidity and mortality fromrnthe questionnaires was done by what is known as "thernexpert algorithm" method where a group of physiciansrnwould review the collected data from the questionnairernand assign diagnosis. The information collected at fieldrnlevel along with respective diagnosis made by the expertrnalgorithm were again analyzed using the software calledrn"Disease Burden Modeling System" to calculate the numberrnof DALYs lost for each condition per 100,000 population.rnThe results showed that the prevalence of morbidityrnwithin the preceding two weeks in the community was 13% .In addition, there were 875 deaths in the last two yearsrnmaki ng an annual mor tality rate of 14 per 1,000rnpopulation and a maternal mortality ratio of about 625rnper 100 , 000 live births . The total burden of disease inrnterms of DALYs lost calculated from these data was 59 , 125rnper 100,000 population . Communicable, maternal andrnperinatal diseases contributed to 72% of the total DALYsrnlost, non-communicable diseases contributed to 24% of thernDALYs lost while the proportion of DALYs lost due torninjuries was 4%.rnAs most of the DALYs lost (72%) were due to communicable,rnmaternal and perinatal conditions, strategies aimed atrnreducing the incidence of morbidity and mortality due torndiseases in this category can improve the health statusrnof the study population.rndone to assess typesrnFurthermore, studies must bernand cost-effectiveness ofrninterventions aimed at this category of diseases. Riskrnface or for this disease category should also be studiedrnand analyzed for preventive intervention.