Explaining the successes and failures of tuberculosis treatment programs; a tale of two regions in rural Eastern Uganda Jonathan Izudi (
[email protected] ) Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9065-0389 Imelda K Tamwesigire Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology Francis Bajunirwe Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology Research article Keywords: Barriers, Facilitators, Health Systems Strengthening, Treatment Success, Tuberculosis, Uganda Posted Date: October 1st, 2019 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.2.15576/v1 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Version of Record: A version of this preprint was published on December 19th, 2019. See the published version at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4834-2. Page 1/23 Abstract Background Well performing tuberculosis (TB) programs are characterized by treatment success rate (TSR) of at least 90%. In rural eastern Uganda, and elsewhere in sub Saharan Africa, TSR varies considerably across district TB programs and the reasons for the differences are unclear. This study explored factors that explain the low and high TSR across four districts in rural eastern Uganda. Methods We interviewed District TB and Leprosy Supervisors (DTLS), Laboratory focal persons (LFPs) and TB focal persons (TBFPs) from four districts in Eastern Uganda as key informants. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and imported into ATLAs.ti where thematic content analysis was performed and results were summarized into themes.