Correlation of Rainfall on Tuberculosis Distribution in South-Southern Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines the problem of rainfall on the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in the South-Southern Nigeria. It correlates rainfall with the prevalence of TB in the six states (Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo, Akwa Ibom, and Delta) of southern Nigeria. It adopted a survey design of government hospitals and climatic research unit gridded time series (CRU TS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 1991-2021. Statistical diagrams and simple regression techniques were adopted for the study. The results displayed an annual rainfall of 2391mm and a total 695, 959 cases of TB in the six states from 1991-2021, with Cross River and Delta states having the highest (546, 204) and lowest (1723) cases of TB respectively. It also showed an R value of 0.71 and R square value of 0.50 indicating that rainfall has 50% contribution to the occurrence of TB in South- South states of Nigeria. The regression model revealed 29.326 F-value and 4. 609 t-value with P<0.05. This indicates that rainfall has marked effect on the prevalence of TB in the southern Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that climatic factor should be incorporated into the planning, management, control and prevention of TB programmes in Nigeria.