Background China contributed 8.9% of all incident cases of tuberculosis globally in 2017, and understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in major transmission foci in the country is critical to ongoing efforts to improve population health. Methods We estimated annual PTB notification rates and their spatiotemporal distributions in Sichuan province, a major center of ongoing transmission, from 2005 to 2017. Time series decomposition was used to obtain trend components from the monthly incidence rate time series. Spatiotemporal cluster analyses were conducted to detect spatiotemporal clusters of PTB at the county level. Results From 2005 to 2017, 976,873 cases of active PTB and 388,739 cases of smear-positive PTB were reported in Sichuan Province, China. During this period, the overall reported incidence rate of active PTB decreased steadily at a rate of decrease (3.77 cases per 100,000 per year, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.28–4.31) that was slightly faster than the national average rate of decrease (3.14 cases per 100,000 per year, 95% CI: 2.61–3.67). Although reported PTB incidence decreased significantly in most regions of the province, incidence was observed to be increasing in some counties with high HIV incidence and ethnic minority populations. Active and smear-positive PTB case reports exhibited seasonality, peaking in March and April, with apparent links to social dynamics and climatological factors. Conclusions While PTB incidence rates decreased strikingly in the study area over the past decade, improvements have not been equally distributed. Additional surveillance and control efforts should be guided by the seasonal-trend and spatiotemporal cluster analyses presented here, focusing on areas with increasing incidence rates, and updated to reflect the latest information from real-time reporting. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12879-019-4262-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The proportion of female-headed households is rising dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa, making women's income generating activities an increasingly important area of study. As women transition into the role of head-of-household, their traditional activities are augmented with the responsibility of being the breadwinner, and their successes become inextricably linked to the wellbeing of the entire household. In order to create sustainable development programs and policies that support women in this new role, an understanding of women's current income generating activities must be established. This article seeks to do that through answering two questions. First, how do rural Kenyan women earn a livelihood? And second, what influences a woman's decision to spend time, sweat, and energy on certain income-generating activities? The findings suggest that there are several underlying factors influencing women's livelihoods and livelihood-related choices. Some of these factors include prioritizing relationships over occupation, identifying positive factors about their current income generating activities (i.e. comfort, extra food, flexible schedule), and planning for dependents rather than themselves. Moreover, the level of education and number of income generating activities directly impact the total income. These findings allow us to better understand the motivations and influences over the choices of work, as well as initiate a conversation on micro franchise opportunities in developing nations.