Evaluation of public awareness and attitude to pulmonary tuberculosis in a Nigerian rural community

Abstract

Introduction Community based interventions have long been linked to tuberculosis control efforts. Effectively treated and cured patients living within their home communities are often the best advocates and may become the drivers of social mobilization to support control of tuberculosis.Methods A descriptive cross-sectional knowledge, attitude, behavioral and practice (KABP) survey on tuberculosis was carried out in a rural Nigerian community. We used the multi-stage sampling method for subject selection. We administered an interview schedule consisting of a pre-tested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire, together with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions.Results We applied the questionnaire to 1186 people in designated rural households. Most of the participants, (1154, 97.3%) had prior knowledge and awareness about tuberculosis as a disease, 612 (51.6%) considered tuberculosis a result of HIV/AIDS epidemics or malnutrition, and 451 (38%) believed that it can be cured by Western medicine. The unwillingness of respondents to relate with TB patients was generally high (97%, 1150), even where levels of awareness and knowledge were high.Conclusion These results should be used to orient tuberculosis control programs, especially those aimed at mobilizing people for tuberculosis control and eradication.

Raising Awareness about Tuberculosis among Women Living in Rural Communities on the Atlantic Coastline of Nigeria

“…However, only 12.2%, 13.4% and 6.6% respectively said that TB could be transmitted by sharing dishes/cutlery, by eating from the same plate with someone with tuberculosis and by touching items that a TB patient previously touched, such as door knobs. Further, only 0.1% thought that TB could be transmitted by having sex, or kissing, which, cumulatively, is similar to the findings of another study [24].…”

“…In addition, while the dominant ethic group in our study was the Yorubas in the west, the dominant ethnic group in the above study was the Ibos in the east of the country and it would be very interesting to know the differences in awareness of tuberculosis in these two ethnic groups. In general, knowledge about TB was much higher, over 90% in eastern Nigeria [24], India [25] and in Ethiopia [26][27][28] respectively than the almost 60% reported in our study. This disparity may be attributable to intensive screening for TB in patients referred to free government health clinics, chest clinics and DOTS centers as well as distance to DOTS center.…”

“…An important aspect of our results indicate that a sizable proportion of the rural coastal community have information about tuberculosis though this proportion is smaller compared to the results from other parts of the world [22,23]. Similar to other study in the eastern Nigeria [24], the age group mostly represented was 25-34 years although there was a disparity in the marital status, our study having more married women than theirs. In addition, while the dominant ethic group in our study was the Yorubas in the west, the dominant ethnic group in the above study was the Ibos in the east of the country and it would be very interesting to know the differences in awareness of tuberculosis in these two ethnic groups.…”

“…This contrasted sharply with the 71% respondents of another study that considered TB as a serious disease, an important determinant of health care seeking [25]. Considering the other factor of perceived seriousness of TB-best treatment option, 70% of the respondents agreed that orthodox medical treatment "is the best option" for treatment, which does not correspond with the 38% reported from eastern Nigeria [24] but is in accord with what a qualitative study in Belgrade, Serbia reported [34].…”

“…Among those who responded that they knew the cause of TB, 20.3% said it was due to smoking cigarette, 23.5% mentioned that it was caused by inhaling dust and 1.3% stated witchcraft, result at variance to what was reported from the study in eastern Nigeria (24). Most (93.4%) of those who mentioned "other" as the cause of tuberculosis in our study actually did not know its cause, which agrees with the findings in other studies [24,27,33]. Only 27% of information on TB are sourced from Health Facilities, therefore, it is quite uncertain if lectures and health talks of the disease are freely given to patients at primary health care centers.…”