Barriers Encountered by Patients on TB-DOTS Therapy in Ndola Urban District, Zambia

According to WHO, directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) therapy is one such strategy recommended in mitigating TB burden. However, according to our knowledge, no study has been conducted on barriers encountered by TB patients in accessing DOTS in Ndola district. We studied barriers encountered by patients on TB-DOTS therapy in Ndola urban district. Methods: A simple random quantitative cross sectional study using random sampling tables was conducted in Ndola urban district on the Copperbelt province of Zambia among 198 TB-DOTS patients in intensive phase of their TB treatment who were mentally sound, registered TB card holding, willing to participate and aged 18 years or more. Data was collected between December, 2008 and January, 2009 using a standardized questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were performed and reported as frequencies and percentages. Results: Out of 198 participants, 42.9% were aged 25-34 years, 52 % were females, 54% resided in highly density populated areas and 54.7% of them earned less than $ 40 per month. Barriers to TB-DOTS therapy identified were laboured access to TB treatment centres, experiencing TB drugs side effects, experienced and felt stigmatized for being TB patients and poor health workers attitude towards TB patients. Conclusion and recommendations: TB patients with labored access to treatment centres, experience unfriendly health workers support, experience and feel stigmatized for being TB patients defaults their TB-DOTS therapy. Therefore, the relevant district health authorities should devise mechanisms to cab these perceived barriers for TB prevalence to reduce to its lowest.