Background: - The lowest health tier system of Ethiopia is Primary level health care,rnwith one Primary Hospital, 5 health centers and twenty-five health posts at rural level,rnthat one health post serves 3000-5,000 population. Two Health Extension Workersrn(HEWs) are trained and deployed in each health post at the village/kebele level tornimprove access and equity to basic health services, targeting households particularlyrnwomen/mothers focusing on sustained preventive health actions and increased healthrnawareness.rnObjective: - To assess the magnitude of attrition, explore the whereabouts of the HEWsrnwho have left their jobs and the possible factors related to those among HealthrnExtension Workers deployed in Oromia Regional State.rnMethods: - It is an exploratory cross sectional study done in Oromia Regional State.rnData for the number of HEWs graduated, by the years of graduations from TVETsrncommission, number of HEWs who have left their jobs, and the whereabouts of HEWsrnwho have left their jobs since 1997 EFY until 2001 EFY assessed and collected from allrneighteen Zones of Oromia.rnThree Zones (Guji, West Harerge and Nannewa Finfinne) from the Region and againrnthree Woredas/Districts from each Zone were selected by the highest number of HEWsrnleft their jobs/services, for the assessment of factors /reasons associated with attritionrnamong HEWs deployed in Oromia Regional State.rnSystematic random sampling method used to select Health Extension Workers in eachrnWoreda/District, using the payroll list of HEWs in each District/Woreda Heath Offices asrna sample frame. The total sample size of 118 respondents were selected from eachrnZone/District, based on proportion to size of the current number of Health ExtensionrnWorkers or key informants in each Zone/District.rnResults: - There were multiple reasons associated with the attrition of HEWs in thernregion, of which 87.4% of key informants mentioned low salary payment. One hundredrnninety (20.7%) and 141 (15.3%) of HEWs that have left their jobs changed their jobs tornother non-health category & left because of marriage respectively.rnConclusion: - In general, 12,766 HEWs were trained and deployed that fulfilled 99.2%rnof the need during the five years (1997 to 2001 EFY) period in Oromia Region, and thernfinding of this study showed that attrition rate of HEWs was 7.2% which is not high