The Prevalence of Tuberculosis and Leprosy in Primary Health Care Levels in Rivers State, Nigeria.
Lucky l. Nwidu¹, Oveh Blessing² and Promise S. K. Abanee³¹-²Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State (Nigeria).
³Department of Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control, Ministry of Health Port Harcourt (Nigeria).
Corresponding Author E-mail:menelucky@yahoo.com
Abstract: The prevalence of tuberculosis and leprosy in primary health care level was investigated in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. Data was collected through TB and Leprosy summary from each LGA to Ministry of Health. The case findings for tuberculosis in all the LGA’s increases from 427, 1166, 2997, 3685 to 4519 and leprosy from 24, 112, 172, 189 to 229 from 2001- 2005 respectively. The prevalence was higher in the upland than the riverine areas of the state. Port Harcourt recorded the highest number of cases for TB and Tai for leprosy in the upland LGA’s; whereas Ogba/Egema/Ndoni recorded the highest number of cases for both TB and Leprosy in the riverine areas of the state. The case holdings of TB increases by 92.78% and leprosy by 93.05% from 2001-2005. Treatment outcome decline from a high of 17.05% in 2001 to 15.5% in 2005. The treatment outcome of leprosy also decline from 29.0% to 18.8% to account for the increase in case holding of 93.0% during the corresponding period. There was however no significant decrease in death rate for TB and Leprosy during the period. The cure rate of TB and Leprosy diminishes from 17.05-15.53% and 29.03-18.83% respectively from 2001-2005. The number of death increases by 91.57% and 75.0% respectively for TB and Leprosy in the same period. Laboratory screening of patients increases tremendously from 1607 to 27436 patients with an increase of 63 positive cases in 2001 to 3807 cases in 2005. The prevalence of TB and Leprosy as observed showed the ineffectiveness of the DOTS approach as a management strategy.
Keywords: Prevalence; Directly Observed Treatment Short Course; Tuberculosis; Leprosy; Nigeria Back to TOC