Knowledge, enablers, and barriers to TB preventive treatment among health care workers

As part of its TB control efforts, the Nigeria National TB Program has prioritised implementation of TB preventive treatment (TPT) especially among all contacts of TB patients. This study aims to assess knowledge, perceived enablers, and barriers to TPT among health care workers (HCWs) in Nigeria.

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study using mixed methods. Quantitative data were collected from 434 HCWs and analysed using SPSS version 25, and in-depth interviews were conducted on 36 purposely selected HCWs with thematic analysis.

More than half of the respondents (55.7%) had good knowledge of TPT. Nurses, doctors, and other HCWs working in public tertiary institutions had better knowledge compared with other cadres. Adequate knowledge of types of TPT regimens and belief in their effectiveness were elicited as enablers, whereas barriers included suboptimal contact tracing system, TPT stock-outs, long duration of TPT, unavailability of TB infection testing before TPT, absence of transport logistics support for patients to receive TPT, and poor HCW capacity.

HCWs in public tertiary settings had better knowledge of TPT. Successful scale-up of TPT services requires competency building for other cadres and interventions addressing other identifiable barriers.