Tuberculosis (TB) constitutes a significant and major public health emergency globally. Nigeria is one of the 22 high burden Tuberculosis countries. A high level of community awareness and positive perception towards TB and its management is crucial for the success of any control strategy. A national baseline survey was conducted in 2008 and a follow-up study in 2012 to measure knowledge of TB among the general population. This study therefore evaluated the knowledge of the target population about Tuberculosis in the follow-up study. A cross-sectional study design was employed with a total of 3,021 respondents interviewed from six states selected randomly from each of the six geopolitical zones in the country. Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were adopted. From the findings, about 60% of the respondents were aged between 21 and 40 years and more than half had secondary school education. Over 80% had ever heard about TB. Although there has been a significant improvement in correct knowledge of the cause of TB from baseline (19%) in 2008 to 26.5% in 2012 (p < 0.001), findings showed that prioritized interventions are needed to improve communication and information dissemination on Tuberculosis to the general public, to aid TB control and all prevention efforts.

Background: Despite the availability of highly effective treatment for decades, Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major health problem in Nigeria due to the increasing association between HIV and TB observed over the past three decades when HIV was discovered. However, the proportion of TB and or TB/HIV co-infected patients who have successful TB treatment outcome is not well known. This study determined the treatment outcome of TB/HIV co-infected patients with HIV negative patients in two states in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of secondary data from eight Directly Observed Treatment Short (DOTS) course and Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) service providers in Benue and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria, was carried out. The period under review covers January, 2010 to December, 2013. Results: Out of the total 5266 TB cases reviewed, the HIV prevalence rate was 52%. They were predominantly (53.3%) male with mean age of 34.4 years (SD = 15.1 years). More than two-third (72.5%) of HIV-negative patients had successful treatment compared to 1718 (62.7%) HIV-positive patients. Of the 2334 HIV co-infected patients, 19.5% defaulted, 11.5% had died, 5.6% were transferred out and 0.7% failed treatment compared to HIV-negative patients amongst whom 18.3% defaulted, 3.6% died, 3.9% were transferred out and 1.6% failed treatment (p < 0.05). TB/HIV co-infected patients with baseline CD4 of ≥300 cell/mm 3 are more likely to have successful treatment outcome {OR-1.541 (95% CI = 1.030-2.305) p = 0.035}. Patients ≥45 years old and those not on Co-trimoxazole Preventive Therapy (CPT) are more likely to have unsuccessful treatment outcome {OR-1.022 (95% CI = 0.643-1.488) p = 0.918 and OR-1.306 (95% CI = 0.956-1.555) respectively.

Introduction: Tuberculosis remains a major public health issue in Nigeria with the country ranking seventh among the 30 high TB burden countries. Nigeria is among the three countries that account for half of the 4.3 million "missing" TB cases globally. One untreated TB case is able to infect about 10 -20 people annually. Hence, it is pertinent that TB is controlled effectively through the use of active case finding strategies to find the missing TB cases. Objective: This article highlights the best practices and key lessons learnt during the implementation of the active house to house TB case finding strategy in Nigeria. Lessons Learnt and Recommendations: Strategic community engagement, massive awareness creation using mass media and local means of communication, mapping of locations where registered TB cases live, to inform home visits for contact tracing and strengthening of laboratory systems, are viable mechanisms to improve TB case finding. Conclusion: Active TB case finding interventions should be implemented in the context of a strengthened diagnostics system, strategic community engagement and media involvement.

This research was conducted in the Federal

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