Private practitioners' practices for tuberculosis management in a city largely served by the private health sector in Uganda

Globally, tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality having caused 1.6 million deaths in 2021. Uganda is a high TB burden country with a large private sector that serves close to 60% of the urban population. However, private for-profit health facilities' involvement with the National TB and Leprosy Program (NTLP) activities remains poor. This study evaluated the practices of diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and associated factors among practitioners in private for-profit (PFP) healthcare facilities in Kampala, Uganda.

We conducted a cross-sectional study among randomly selected private practitioners in Uganda's largest city, Kampala. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and generalized linear models with log Poisson link were used to analyze data. Practices were graded as standard or substandard.

Of the 630 private practitioners studied, 46.2% (95% confidence interval (CI): 26.6 to 67.1) had overall standard practices. Being a laboratory technician (prevalence ratio (PR) = 2.7, p< 0.001) or doctor (PR = 1.2, p< 0.001), a bachelor's degree level of qualification (PR = 1.1, p = 0.021), quarterly supervision by the national TB program (PR = 1.3, p = 0.023), and acceptable knowledge of the practitioner about TB (PR = 1.8, p<0.001) were significantly associated with standard practices.

The practices of TB management for practitioners from the PFP facilities in Kampala are suboptimal and this poses a challenge for the fight against TB given that these practitioners are a major source of primary health care in the city.