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Integration of tuberculosis and HIV services: Exploring the perspectives of co-infected patients in Ghana.
- Source :
- Global Public Health; Sep2018, Vol. 13 Issue 9, p1192-1203, 12p
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Scaling up of integrated tuberculosis (TB)-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) services remains sub-optimal in many resource-limited countries, including Ghana, where the two conditions take a heavy toll on the financial resources of health systems as well as infected persons. Previous studies have documented several implementation challenges towards TB-HIV service integration, but views of patients on integrated service delivery have not received commensurate research attention. This paper explored the experiences of 40 TB-HIV co-infected patients at different stages of treatment in Ghana. Using Normalisation Process Theory as a framework, data were coded using inter-rater coding technique and analysed inductively and deductively with the help of QSR NVivo 10. For several participants, either of the diseases was diagnosed ‘accidentally’, leading to inconsistencies in co-therapy administration, constraints regarding separate clinic appointment dates for TB and HIV and prolonged TB treatment due to treatment failure. Put differently, there were widespread negative experiences among TB-HIV co-infected patients with regard to treatment and care, especially among patients who were accessing care in separate facilities or separate units in the same facility. Co-infected patients unanimously support full-service integration. However, they felt powerless to request for reforms on a mode of service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17441692
- Volume :
- 13
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Global Public Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 130796950
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2017.1385823