This article is part of a series on Towards a scaling-up of training and education for health workers, edited by Hugo Mercer.

Review

Training of front-line health workers for tuberculosis control: Lessons from Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan

Niyi Awofeso^1,2 , Irina Schelokova³ and Abubakar Dalhatu⁴

¹School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia

²School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

³National Tuberculosis Institute, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

⁴Field Training Unit, National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre, Zaria, Nigeria

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Human Resources for Health 2008, 6:20doi:10.1186/1478-4491-6-20

Published:	29 September 2008

Abstract

Efficient human resources development is vital for facilitating tuberculosis control in developing countries, and appropriate training of front-line staff is an important component of this process. Africa and Central Asia are over-represented in global tuberculosis statistics. Although the African region contributes only about 11% of the world population, it accounts for at least 25% of annual TB notifications, a proportion that continues to increase due to poor case management and the adverse impact of HIV/AIDS. Central Asia's estimated current average tuberculosis prevalence rate of 240/100 000 is significantly higher than the global average of 217/100 000. With increased resources currently becoming available for countries in Africa and Central Asia to improve tuberculosis control, it is important to highlight context-specific training benchmarks, and propose how human resources deficiencies may be addressed, in part, through efficient (re)training of frontline tuberculosis workers. This article compares the quality, quantity and distribution of tuberculosis physicians, laboratory staff, community health workers and nurses in Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan, and highlights implications for (re)training tuberculosis workers in developing countries.