TB cure and completion rates have remained poor
for Sinazongwe district in the past five years.
Mortality, treatment failure and defaulter rates
among TB patients have also been increasing in the
same period. The reasons for the observed poor
treatment outcomes are not well understood but
could be attributed to high HIV co-infection among
TB patients in the district.
This study was aimed at determining the
prevalence of HIV/AIDS among TB patients and
asses the association between the common TB
treatment outcomes. A retrospective study of 484
TB patients’ clinical files drawn from a total of
2,137 files was conducted at Sinazongwe Zonal
Health Centre. HIV was more prevalent among
female TB patients at 61.5% compared to their
male counterparts, 54%. TB/HIV co-infection
were higher for patients with extra pulmonary TB
compared to patients with pulmonary TB (p=
0.002).
HIV prevalence among TB patients in Sinazongwe
district was high and there was no evidence of
declining trend observed across the reference
period. HIV did not only fuel the number of new
TB infections but was also, in part, responsible for
reducing TB cure rate and increasing mortality
rate among TB patients registered in the routine
TB program.