Assessing Knowledge about TB-HIV/AIDS Co-infection among Healthcare Workers of a Secondary Healthcare Facility in North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

Tuberculosis-Human Immunodeficiency Virus (TB-HIV) co-infection, a ‘lethal duet’, poses a public health challenge to global development due to its-related morbidity and mortality. Healthcare workers (HW) play crucial role in voluntary behaviour modification which is a strategy to prevent the spread of TB-HIV co-infection. However, limited knowledge about the co-infection by HW negates prevention and control measures. This study examined the knowledge about TB-HIV co-infection among HW in Civil Service Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. It was a descriptive, cross-sectional study that used structured questionnaire tested for reliability (r = 0.82) to interview 94 eligible HW. The results revealed that only 10.6% of the respondents knew that the laboratory diagnosis of TB-HIV co-infection is more difficult. The knowledge about its curability was 24.5%. No significant difference existed between the level of education of the HW and their knowledge that laboratory diagnosis of TB-HIV co-infection is more difficult (p>0.05) but significant difference existed between the level of education of the respondents and their knowledge about the co-infection being curable (p<0.05). The HW’s poor knowledge about the difficulty of laboratory diagnosis and the curability of TB-HIV co-infection showed the need for capacity building.