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Levels of TB Knowledge among Primary Healthcare Workers in Ntcheu District, Malawi

Rhoda P. Banda, Isaac Singini, Simon Sikwese, Ronex Nkhata, Madalitso Mmanga, Hastings Banda, Kuzani Mbendera, Tobias Chirwa, Bagrey Ngwira and Peter S Nyasulu

Background: Lack of knowledge may contribute to ineffective Tuberculosis Control at Peripheral health service level. It is therefore important for policy makers to know whether health care workers at this level have adequate knowledge on TB Control. We aimed to measure the level of knowledge among health care workers who participated in a one week refresher tuberculosis training programme.

Methods: A cross sectional study design assessing knowledge of Tuberculosis among peripheral health care workers was done. A pre-test was administered at the beginning of the course followed by a training course. A post-test was then administered at the end of the training course and we used exactly the same questions as the pre-test so as to measure the level of knowledge.

Results: Clinicians scored significantly higher than environmental health workers. Environmental Health workers with tertiary level of education scored higher than those with primary and secondary level education(62.9% versus 26%) p= 0.0017 while as for Medical Assistants the difference between tertiary and secondary level was significant only in the pre-test score (62.9% versus 26%) p= 0.0017 with no significant difference on the post-test results (78% versus 80%) p=0.55.

Conclusion: TB knowledge among medical assistants and environmental health officers was comparatively low. This call for the need to closely supervise and provide on the job training for this cadre of health care workers by the head of the District Health Office. Adequate knowledge will enhance effective TB management and control.