KNOWLEDGE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH TB CO- INFECTION AMONG HIV/AIDS PATIENTS ATTENDING ART CLINIC AT GOMBE HOSPITAL IN BUTAMBALA DISTRICT

ABSTRACT

According to WHO (2015), HIV and TB are the first and second leading causes of death globally due to shared immune defense mechanism distraction and according to WHO (2012), the impact of TB remains a major public health issue in Uganda with annual incidence of 330 cases of all forms with 136 new positive smears cases among 100,000 people per year. The purpose of this study was to compile a report regarding the knowledge and risk factors associated with TB co infection among HIV patients attending ART clinic at Gombe hospital. The study was focused on HIV patients of all age groups that attended ART clinic during the period of data collection and a retrospective and descriptive cross-sectional study designs were used, where participants were recruited using a simple random sampling method. A sample size of 151 HIV patients was used. The results from the study revealed that 66% of the study participants had knowledge about TB whereas 34% did not have proper knowledge about TB, also according to the study, the factors that were found to increase the risk of TB co-infection among HIV patients attending ART clinic at Gombe Hospital, Butambala District were WHO clinical stage III (81%) and IV (19%), CD4 cell count of less than 250 (65%), severe acute malnutrition (54%), ART adherence of less than 80% (73) and smoking (62%). According to the results of the study, majority of the participants were found to have utilized both DOT and IPT to minimize the occurrence of TB co-infection. However, health education is still needed amongst the patients about different ways in which TB is transmitted, different body parts that are affected, signs and symptoms and ways to prevent TB infection amongst them.