INFLUENCE OF SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS ON AWARENESS OF TUBERCULOSIS PREVENTION AND TREATMENT

Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in the world and in Nigeria in particular as the country is ranked fourth globally and first in Africa, among 22 high burden TB countries. The country in recent times has intensified efforts to address the challenge posed by the disease through expansion and enhancement of TB service, and directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) which presently falls short of WHO’s recommendation. One of the identified problems and the basis of this study remains how TB could be controlled through individual preventive measures and knowledge of possible cure. The study was a cross-sectional survey in which 125 patients who were receiving treatment at the University of Nigeria directly observed treatment strategy (DOTS) centre were interviewed using selfadministered questionnaire. Data analysis was achieved through the use of SPSS statistical tool. The result shows that there is a general poor knowledge of the ways of preventing TB as 92% of the patients had poor knowledge of TB prevention. The result equally showed a high level of knowledge of the ways of curing TB as 65.6% of the respondents have good knowledge of the correct ways of curing TB. Patients, having fallen short of TB preventive measures calls for urgent actions by the authorities to improve on the knowledge of TB preventive measures tailored to individual’s socio-demographic needs