Abstract:

Background: About one-third of the world's population are infected with latent TB, which implies that these people have been infected but not yet ill and cannot spread the disease (WHO, 2016). Those infected with TB have 10% lifetime risk of falling ill, while immunosuppressed states such as people living with HIV(PLHIVs) and other immunosuppressive conditions have higher risks of falling ill (WHO, 2016). Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and perception of PLHIVs regarding Tuberculosis infection and control in Agege local government area, Lagos.

Methodology: A quantitative research using descriptive cross- sectional design and simple random sampling technique was utilized to administer a structured questionnaire which was used for data collection. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 20

Results: Many of the respondents (71.9%) were aware of TB but only 35.7% demonstrated good knowledge of TB infection prevention and control in their response. Females had higher overall fair knowledge with 75 (60.9%) females out of 123 and only 48(39%) males out of 123 having over all fair knowledge of TB infection control. Also, there was statistically significant association between gender and knowledge of respondents about TB.

Discussion and conclusion: Findings from this study revealed that despite a relatively fair perception and attitude towards TB infection control by people living with HIV, there was poor knowledge about TB infection prevention and control. This showed poor understanding of the information given, therefore there is need to give adequate detailed information about TB to all PLHIV.

Keywords: Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, co-infection, Knowledge, Attitude, Perception.

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