A Cross-Sectional Observational Study Probing Post COVID-19 Pandemic Prevalence of Tuberculosis in Bayelsa State: Yenagoa LGA as a Case Study

COVID-19 pandemic disrupted uptake of health services and programs for diseases of public health relevance like Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and Immunization. This study aimed at investigating the post COVID-19 pandemic prevalence of Tuberculosis in Bayelsa State. It is a cross-sectional observational study involving sample collection from 384 respondents. The GeneXpert machine was used to examine samples for TB infection. A well-structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on gender, educational status, age, state of residence, among other information. This study recorded a TB prevalence of17.7%. The results further indicated that less females (5.7%) than males (12.0%) were infected with TB (p<0.05), whereas 30-39 years age group recorded the highest TB prevalence (p>0.05). Statistically significant association exists between TB prevalence and both levels of education (X 2 =15.855, df=4, p-value = 0.005), and employment status (X 2 =12.904, df=2, P-value = 0.002). TB is still a public health issue in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Though, it was observed that the TB clinics in Yenagoa were structurally well-built to support prevention of infectious diseases, plus strict adherence to infection prevention and control practices, more needs to be done on facility-based TB education, including enforcement of routine TB screening services at the healthcare centers.