ABSTRACT: This study assessed the perspective of community health surveillance volunteers on tuberculosis case detection in the Banda District. Descriptive research that employs quantitative research methods and a simple random sampling method selected 159 community-based surveillance volunteers to participate in the study. The respondents were given a questionnaire that asked about their socio-demographics, health professional awareness of tuberculosis, diagnostic methods available, and integration of TB activities in-home visits by community health nurses. Data were recorded and edited appropriately to ensure accuracy and consistency, and coded data were entered into SPSS for cleaning and univariate analysis. Analyzed data was displayed in frequency tables and percentages. The mean age of the volunteers was 36.87 6.45 years. On knowledge of frontline staff, the majority of 136 (85.5%) of the participants indicated the health workers were trained on tuberculosis. Of the 159 respondents, the proportion of those who said the equipment to diagnose TB was not adequate was 98.7% (95%CI = 95.1–99.7) to answer the question of the availability of diagnostic equipment. On integrating tuberculosis activities into in-home visit activities, 124 (78.0%) of the participants indicated community health nurses conduct home surveillance in the community every week. However, 60 (37.7%) of these same participants indicated that the CHNs do not visit TB patients in their communities. Findings from the study suggest that most 136 (85.5%) of the participants stated the health workers were trained in tuberculosis. There was no adequate equipment, including a chest X-ray, to diagnose TB cases in the district regarding the availability of diagnostic tests for TB detection.

DOI: 10.53075/Ijmsirq07560933 

DOI Url: http://doi.org/10.53075/Ijmsirq07560933