Training health care workers to promote HIV services for patients with tuberculosis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Background: HIV counseling and testing, HIV prevention and provision of HIV care and support are essential activities to reduce the burden of HIV among patients with TB, and should be integrated into routine TB care.

Methods: The development of training materials to promote HIV services for TB patients involved the definition of target health care workers (HCWs); identification of required tasks, skills and knowledge; review of international guidelines; and adaptation of existing training materials for voluntary counseling and testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and management of opportunistic infections (OIs). Training effectiveness was assessed by means of questionnaires administered pre- and post-training, by correlating post-training results of HCWs with the centre's HIV testing acceptance rates, and through participatory observations at the time of on-site supervisory visits and monthly meetings.