Background: Index testing is a voluntary process whereby HIV seropositive clients are counselled and, after obtaining consent, their sexual and needle sharing partners are offered HIV testing services. Index testing has been associated with high HIV positivity yield. The aim of this study is to determine the positivity yield and identify factors influencing the yield from index testing strategy in selected healthcare facilities in Ondo State, southwest Nigeria. Methodology: Six public hospitals in Ondo State with the highest HIV clients currently on treatment were selected. Records of all clients newly diagnosed to be HIV positive at the selected facilities from June 2018 to September 2019, and who had an outcome for index testing services were reviewed. Data were collected using a chart abstraction template from the index testing registers. Information collected included age and gender of the index clients and their partners, method of referral and notification of partners, HIV test results of partners and linkage status of new HIVpositive partners. Data analyses were done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 24.0. Chi-square was used to test association between variables at a significance level of p<0.01. Results: The records of a total of 904 index clients and their partners were reviewed with partner elicitation ratio of 1:1. The mean ages of index clients and their partners were 38.52±10.96 and 38.98±10.79 years respectively, and majority of the index clients (34.6%) and partners (35.5%) were in the 35-44 years age group. A total of 548 index clients were females (60.6%) while 528 of their partners were males (58.4%), indicating  predominantly heterosexual (96.4%) and few homosexual (lesbian) relationships (3.6%). One-fifth (20%) of partners tested positive for HIV andwere all (100%) linked to antiretroviral therapy (ART). The HIV positivity rate in partners of male index clients (26.9%) was significantly higher than in partners of female index clients (15.5%) (p<0.01). Partner referral method was mostly through assisted referral (56%) and most (82%) were contacted by the index clients through phone. Conclusion: Due to its high positivity yield, index testing is a veritable strategy to increase HIV case detection and linkage to ART. Hence, proper deployment of index testing will be critical to improving ART coverage and achieving epidemiological control. Keywords: HIV, client; partner; index testing; ART; southwest Nigeria

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Background: Worldwide, tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death. Drug resistant tuberculosis has lately become a major public health problem that threatens progress made in Tuberculosis (TB) care and control worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Pre-extensive drug resistant TB among MDR TB in North Central of Nigeria. Methods: This study was conducted from October, 2018 to August, 2019 with 150 samples. In Nigeria, guidelines for DR-TB as recommended by WHO is followed. All the samples from the patients who gave their consent were transported to a zonal reference TB laboratory (ZRL). Results: Mean age was 38.6 ± 13.4 years with peak age at 35-44. Out of these 103 samples processed with LPA, 101(98%) were rifampicin resistant and 2 were rifampicin sensitive, 99(96%) were INH resistant and 4 (4%) were INH sensitive, 5(5%) were fluoroquinolone resistant, 98(95%) were fluoroquinolone sensitive, 12 (12%) were Aminoglycoside + Capreomycin resistant, 91(83%) were Aminoglycoside + Capreomycin sensitive. Conclusion: Multidrug resistant TB and its severe forms (Pre-extensive & extensively drug resistant TB) can be detected early with rapid tool- Line Probe Assay rapid and prevented timely by early initiation on treatment. Keywords: Pre-XDR TB; line probe assay in a high TB burden country.

Background: Very high rates of late or no ART initiation remains a persistent challenge to the achievement of PEPFAR 95-95-95 targets despites new NAIIS report stating prevalence of HIV in Nigeria as 1.5%. This study assessed the impact of accompanied referral (AR) and effective counseling (EC) on enrolment and ART treatment commencement of newly diagnosed HIV positive patients.    Methods: This study is a Quasi- experimental and analyzed routine program data on linkage from October 2017 – October 2019 for 45 health facilities in two States in South-West Nigeria. The first 6 months (Q1 and Q2 FY18) had no intervention while accompanied referral (AR) was implemented in Q3 and Q4 FY18. EC was implemented with AR in Q1&Q2 FY19 and was followed up till Q3 and Q4 FY19. Data analysis was done using SPSS and significance fixed at P < 0.05 Results: A total of 6114 newly identified HIV-positive clients were identified; mean age was 35.7 ± 13.9 and 31.5% were in the 30-39 years age bracket. Index Testing contributed 28.7% of the HIV positive Clients identified. Percentage Enrolment in Q1 and Q2FY18 increased from 65.8% and 65.6% respectively to 89.9% and 83.8% in Q3 and Q4 FY18. This increased to 99.6% in Q1FY19, 100% in Q2, 99.7% in Q3 and 99.9% in Q4FY19. Percentage linkage to ART in Q1 and Q2FY18 increased from 61.9% and 65.6% respectively to 85.4% and 75.7% in Q3 and Q4 FY18. This increased to 98.8% in Q1FY19, 99.5% in Q2, 99.7% in Q3 and 99.2% in Q4FY19. Conclusion: AR coupled with EC had the best impact on enrolment, initiation on ART, time to enrolment and initiation.

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