Training Intervention on TB Knowledge Among Lesotho Village Health Workers

The role of Village Health Workers (VHW) is to educate communities about tuberculosis (TB) and its causes, conduct TB screening, and directly observe the treatment of TB. The knowledge of TB among VHWs is crucial because it impacts not only their work at the community level but also the overall outcome of TB treatment. The study is aimed at assessing the training intervention on TB knowledge among Lesotho VHWs. This aim is achieved by comparing VHWs' TB knowledge before and after the training. The study used mixed methods design with a quantitative approach. Three study populations were interviewed, two at the household level and one at the clinic level. The third study population was made up of VHWs, serving in the selected clinics. Open Development Kit (ODK) was used to administer a structured questionnaire. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis. Ethical approval was granted by the National Ethics and Review Board of the Ministry of Health (MOH). The mean scores of overall knowledge of TB in all the 9 measures used to assess VHWs' TB knowledge increased from 44.63% at baseline to 61.84% post-intervention. This result implies a positive impact of the intervention strategy, although adequate knowledge, indicated by an overall post-intervention score of 31.50 (75%) was not achieved. It was concluded that household members have inadequate knowledge about TB causes that is seen to be a direct cause from VHWs who lacked such knowledge.