Effect of a training intervention for finding the missed cases of tuberculosis amongst patent medicine vendors in Delta State, Nigeria.

Context: The undiagnosed and untreated tuberculosis (TB) cases underpin the experience of accelerating deaths. Everyone should be engaged in managing TB patients to revert the current trend.

Aims: In this context, we assessed the outcome of an education intervention on the knowledge of TB and referral practice of presumptive TB cases to directly observed therapy strategy amongst patent medicine vendors (PMVs).

Settings and design: The study was quasi-experimental, conducted amongst 647 PMVs in Delta State, Nigeria.

Methods: A structured questionnaire was administered to obtain baseline data on knowledge of TB. An educational intervention on knowledge of TB was then given. A post-intervention assessment of TB knowledge was subsequently conducted using the same questionnaire. The exact number of referrals of presumptive TB cases by PMVs and the number that tested positive amongst the referred presumptive TB cases, 3 months before and after the training were obtained from the state TB database.

Statistical analysis used: SPSS v. 26 was used for data analysis.

Results: The pre-training knowledge average score was 15.45 ± 6.45, while the post-training average score was 19.44 ± 7.03 (P < 0.001). The pre-training average number of presumptive cases referred was 146 ± 124.7, and the post-training was 205.67 ± 255.4, P = 0.41. The pre-training average number of cases that turned out positive was 9.5 ± 6.3, and the post-training was 13.5 ± 11.3, P = 0.42.

Conclusion: There was a significant improvement in PMVs' knowledge of TB post-intervention. However, while an increase in the number of cases referred and positives detected was observed, this was not significant. Periodic training and updates to PMVs in keeping with current trends and best practices in TB management are recommended.