Are routine tuberculosis programme data suitable to report on antiretroviral therapy use of HIV-infected tuberculosis patients?

Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is lifesaving for HIV-infected tuberculosis (TB) patients. ART-use by these patients lag behind compared to HIV-testing and co-trimoxazole preventive therapy. TB programmes provide the data on ART-use by HIV-infected TB patients, however often the HIV services provide the ART.

The effect of tuberculosis and antiretroviral treatment on CD4+ cell count response in HIV-positive tuberculosis patients in Mozambique.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) presents a serious problem in Mozambique. HIV prevalence among TB patients is estimated at 47%. A delay in having their first CD4+ cell count could lead to a missed opportunity for ART initiation due to a CD4+ cell increase above the cut-off caused by TB treatment.