Abstract

Tuberculosis is one of the major public health problems in Kano. With the occurrence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, little is known about the views of health care workers on this disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare professionals about prevention and control of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) at Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Kano, Nigeria.  A cross-sectional study was conducted at Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Kano, Nigeria from November, 2018 to December, 2018. Data was collected using a pretested structured questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS software package (SPSS 16.0). Descriptive analysis was performed to obtain the frequency distribution of the variables. The results of this study indicate that, overall, less than half (68%) of respondents had good level of knowledge of MDR-TB; but the overwhelming majority of them held negative attitude towards patients with MDR-TB. In conclusion, less than half of respondents had good level of knowledge about MDR-TB, but 28.7% of them held negative attitude towards patients suffering from MDR-TB. Although the level of knowledge of MDR-TB was found not to have influenced the attitude of respondents towards patients suffering from MDR-TB; and that their attitude did not influence practices, good level of knowledge was positively associated with safer practices such as using protective masks, educating patients on MDR-TB, and referring to the MDR-TB guidelines manual. An educational remedial intervention and in-service training on the MDR-TB is recommended for all professionals especially primary health care workers.

Key words: Multi drug- resistant, extensively drug-resistant, tuberculosis, health care workers