No abstract

The need to prevent vertical transmission of HIV to a new born and the imperativeness of instituting a functional integrated HIV and Tuberculosis (TB) services across health facilities will be a landmark public health intervention that will improve the quality of life of millions. This survey is a descriptive study in which respondents (HIV positive pregnant women enrolled for the prevention of mother to child transmission service) were purposively selected based on consent to participate across multiple points at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. The 27 respondents participated in the study. About 50% of the respondents were between 18-30 years old with majority having secondary school education or more. The respondents are mostly married and generally knowledgeable about the mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS, TB and antiretrovirals. The major considerations cited by the respondents include; care beyond hospital settings by community health workers (home care and visitation), counseling, health education and promotion, TB screening while "increased stigma & discrimination" and "fear of meeting known persons" were identified as possible disadvantages. The survey revealed and highlighted the key considerations in implementing HIV-TB integrated services into the PMTCT services. Improved training for health workers for effective management of the increased work burden is recommended.

HIV/AIDS remains a global public health issue which has claimed an estimated of 35 million lives since the start of the epidemic and further 78 million people still living with the virus. Tuberculosis (TB) is a major disease with high incident cases and over 1.3 million deaths recorded in 2012 even with the availability of effective chemotherapy. This survey is a descriptive, cross-sectional quantitative study among 87 enrolled clients attending HIV/TB integrated service at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, (LASUTH) Lagos in Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed with SPSS version 21 with Chisquare used to test for association. Eighty percent (80) of the HIV clients were female while the TB patients were 41% male. Most of the respondents had only secondary school education and were married as at the time of the survey. Generally, unprotected sexual intercourse with a HIV infected person is the most known mode of spreading HIV among respondents. Majority of the respondents receives treatment for both TB and HIV in the same facility and view antiretrovirals as drugs responsible for preventing death from HIV/AIDS. While over 70% of the respondents agreed to like being visited by healthcare workers, over 60% reported to have never being visited by healthcare workers. The most reported advantages of integrated services for HIV and TB were "save cost for transportation and save time". The survey revealed good knowledge about HIV and TB among respondents while also showing that perception about integrated HIV and TB services is welcomed among the respondents. Increasing the number of healthcare workers and incentivizing the approach for healthcare workers were recommended.