Abstract
Malawi is gripped by a twin epidemic of AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). In 1999, the country had an estimated 800,000 people living with HIV/AIDS1, and 24,396 registered cases of TB (source = National Tuberculosis Programme). Health workers have little hesitation in considering TB as a possible diagnosis, but the same cannot be said of AIDS. AIDS is still a highly stigmatised disease, and there seems to be reluctance by health workers to label patients with this diagnosis or refer patients for voluntary counselling and HIV testing (VCT). We carried out a countrywide cross-sectional survey to document i) the principal working diagnoses in medical in-patients, ii) the frequency with which TB was considered in the differential diagnosis and investigated by sputum smear examination and iii) how often AIDS or a synonym of AIDS was written in the case file or a referral made for VCT.
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Schedule a callMore From: Malawi medical journal : the journal of Medical Association of Malawi
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