Year: 2026 | Month: April-June | Volume: 11 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 50-59
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/gijhsr.20260206
Assessment of Infection Prevention and Control Practices and Compliance for Pulmonary Tuberculosis Among Healthcare Workers in Doma Local Government, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
Mary Mathew1, Ibrahim Isa Otoshi2, Joseph Akabe3
1Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Federal University of Lafia, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
2National Open University of Nigeria, Lafia Study Centre, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
3Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Federal University Teaching Hospital Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
Corresponding Author: Mary Mathew
ABSTRACT
“Pulmonary Tuberculosis’’ (PTB), an ancient infectious disease has caused more suffering and deaths than any other infectious disease and remains a public health problem worldwide. Tuberculosis (TB) infection prevention and control (IPC) is one of the key components of the ‘End TB Strategy’ being applied at both the facility and national level to prevent the spread of this communicable airborne disease. The healthcare workers (HCWs) by virtue of the environment they work in, are at high risk to nosocomial Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (MTB) due to the close contact with infected individuals. The TB Infection Prevention and Control guidelines for health care workers focuses on the four-pillar approach- managerial, administrative, environmental, and personal respiratory protection to minimize transmission of TB. Key measures include rapid ‘fast tracking’ triaging of coughing patients, use of N95 masks, and strict cough etiquette among others. The prevalence of active PTB is high among HCWs in Nigeria. This cross-sectional study assessed the IPC practices and knowledge of pulmonary tuberculosis of all categories of health care workers (n=391) in all public health facilities in Doma Local Government Area, Nasarawa State. Majority of the respondents, 387 (99.0%) had a good knowledge of the transmission and prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis. However, 71.4%, of the respondents had a fair practice of TB IPC and only 15.6% had a good practice of TB IPC. There was no statistically significant association between having knowledge of TB transmission and prevention and the practice of TB IPC (Fisher’s exact =0.324) among the respondents. Just over half of the respondents reported ‘TB suspects’, and followed the ‘National TB IPC Guidelines’. These findings highlight the need to provide the ‘National TB IPC Guidelines’ at designated points of care in health facilities, mentor HCWs during on-the-job supervision, and integrate TB IPC into the routine supportive supervision checklist (by state and local government authorities) in order to enhance compliance to TB IPC. This would contribute positively to the reduction of the risk of transmission and exposure among health care workers to PTB in healthcare settings.
Keywords: Health care workers, pulmonary tuberculosis, infection prevention and control practices, infection prevention and control compliance