Socio‐economic, gender and health services factors affecting diagnostic delay for tuberculosis patients in urban Zambia

In‐depth interviews regarding health seeking behaviour were conducted with 202 adults registered with pulmonary tuberculosis at the centralized Chest Clinic in Lusaka, Zambia. The median (mean) diagnostic delay was 8.6 (9) weeks, and was significantly associated with the following factors: female se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tropical medicine & international health 2001-04, Vol.6 (4), p.256-259
Main Authors: Needham, Dale M., Foster, Susan D., Tomlinson, George, Godfrey‐Faussett, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Africa
Bacterial diseases
Biological and medical sciences
diagnostic delay
Female
gender
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Sex
Socioeconomic Factors
socio‐economic
Time Factors
Tropical medicine
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial infections
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - prevention & control
Urban Health
Zambia
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Summary:In‐depth interviews regarding health seeking behaviour were conducted with 202 adults registered with pulmonary tuberculosis at the centralized Chest Clinic in Lusaka, Zambia. The median (mean) diagnostic delay was 8.6 (9) weeks, and was significantly associated with the following factors: female sex, lower education, more than six instances of health‐seeking encounters, outpatient diagnosis of tuberculosis, and visiting a private doctor or traditional healer. More effective tuberculosis control interventions require novel methods of accessing women and less educated people. Decentralization of public tuberculosis care and improved integration with private sector health providers may also reduce diagnostic delay.
ISSN:1360-2276
1365-3156
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-3156.2001.00709.x