Quality of Tuberculosis Services in Lusaka, Zambia; Patients’ Perspective

Abstract

Zambia is among the 30 countries with high Tuberculosis (TB) burden, with an estimated 455 new cases per 100,000 people annually. Zambia and its partners are committed to accelerating the response to end TB through the provision of good quality of TB services, among other things. Despite the coordinated effort in addressing TB, little is documented about patients’ perceptions regarding the quality of TB services in Zambia. This study was conducted to assess the quality of TB services from the patient’s perspective. A facility-based cross-sectional study that utilized both quantitative and qualitative data collection. The study sample was 352 randomly selected patients on TB treatment and 58 purposefully selected TB treatment support persons. The patient’s perceived quality of care was measured by their perceived satisfaction of TB services in relation to accessibility of the TB clinic, timeliness of service provision, availability of qualified service providers, access to health education, the perceived attitude of service providers, and availability of drugs. Results revealed a high level of perceived good quality of TB services. The TB patients were more satisfied with the attitude of service providers, followed by the timeliness of service provision. Overall, 94.9% of the TB patients reported being satisfied with TB services. There is a high perception of good quality of TB services among the patients. Despite the high level of good quality, the study revealed limitations with regard to drug dispensation and the availability of qualified staff.