The Role of Public-Private Mix in Tuberculosis Control in Cross River State, Nigeria.

Public Private Mix (PPM) is a strategy for TB control rolled out by WHO in 2004 and is aimed at involving all care providers – public and private, formal and informal in the provision of TB services. All high TB burden countries are implementing the PPM strategy currently which has proven to be effective in increasing TB case finding, case notification and treatment success rate. Evaluation of the project still required in Cross River State.  The aim of this study was to assess the role of the private sector in TB control in CRS, the knowledge gap and the challenges encountered while providing TB services. 

This is a descriptive study using multiple tools to collect both the quantitative and qualitative data. Data was collected and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version Student t-test was used to draw inferences as P-value of 0.05 was considered significant. The findings of the study indicated that knowledge gap among private providers on role for PPM in TB control in Cross River State. Also, there is lack of understanding of challenges encountered in the implementation of PPM in TB control. However, the study indicated significantly high contributions of PPM in TB control in Cross River State. The study results show that PPM is an important aspect of TB control in Cross River state and as such should be made an integral part of the control of public health disease in the state. There is urgent need to build their capacities as they remain the first point of contact to patients requiring medical attention.

Keywords: Public Private Mix, Tuberculosis and public health.