SUMMARY SETTING Limited data exist on the prevalence and correlates, including stigma, of mental health conditions, including depressive symptoms and alcohol use, among patients co-infected with tuberculosis (TB) and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in sub-Saharan Africa, despite their negative impact on health outcomes. OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms and hazardous/harmful alcohol use among TB-HIV patients in the Start TB patients on ART and Retain on Treatment (START) study. DESIGN START, a mixed-methods cluster-randomized trial, evaluated a combination intervention package vs. standard of care (SOC) to improve treatment outcomes in TB-HIV co-infected patients in Lesotho. Moderate/ severe depressive symptoms and hazardous/harmful alcohol use were measured using baseline questionnaire data collected from April 2013 to March 2015. Demographic, psychosocial, and TB- and HIV-related knowledge and attitudes, including stigma, were assessed for association with both conditions using generalized linear mixed models. RESULTS Among 371 participants, 29.8% reported moderate/severe depressive symptoms, and 24.7% reported hazardous/harmful alcohol use; 7% reported both. Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with less education, more difficulty understanding written medical information, non-disclosure of TB, greater TB stigma, and the SOC study arm. Hazardous/harmful alcohol use was significantly associated with male sex, as well as greater TB and external HIV stigma. CONCLUSION Prevalence of depressive symptoms and hazardous/harmful alcohol use were high, suggesting a need for routine screening for, and treatment of, mental health disorders in TB-HIV patients.

Implementation of ACF and IPT is feasible within the MCH setting. Uptake of IPT during pregnancy among HIV-positive women was high, but with a high rate of loss to follow-up.

SettingDrug resistance is an increasing threat to tuberculosis (TB) control worldwide. The World Health Organization advises monitoring for drug resistance, with either ongoing surveillance or periodic surveys.MethodsThe antituberculosis drug resistance survey was conducted in Lesotho in 2008-2009. Basic demographic and TB history information was collected from individuals with positive sputum smear results at 17 diagnostic facilities. Additional sputum sample was sent to the national TB reference laboratory for culture and drug susceptibility testing.ResultsAmong 3441 eligible smear-positive persons, 1121 (32.6%) were not requested to submit sputum for culture. Among 2320 persons submitted sputum, 1164 (50.2%) were not asked for clinical information or did not have valid sputum samples for testing. In addition, 445/2320 (19.2%) were excluded from analysis because of other laboratory or data management reasons. Among 984/3441 (28.6%) persons who had data available for analysis, MDR-TB was present in 24/773 (3.1%) of new and 25/195 (12.8%) of retreatment TB cases. Logistical, operational and data management challenges affected survey results.ConclusionMDR-TB is prevalent in Lesotho, but limitations reduced the reliability of our findings. Multiple lessons learned during this survey can be applied to improve the next drug resistance survey in Lesotho and other resource constrained countries may learn how to avoid these bottlenecks.