Barriers and facilitators to accessing tuberculosis care in Nepal
Psychosocial and economic (socioeconomic) barriers, including poverty, stigma and catastrophic costs,
impede access to tuberculosis (TB) services in low-income countries. We aimed to characterise the socioeconomic barriers and facilitators of accessing TB services in Nepal to inform the design of a locally appropriate socioeconomic support intervention for TB-affected households.
From August 2018 to July 2019, we conducted an exploratory qualitative study consisting of semi-structured focus group discussions (FGDs) with purposively selected multi-sectoral stakeholders. The data were managed in NVivo V.12, coded by consensus and analysed thematically. The study was conducted in four districts, Makwanpur, Chitwan, Dhanusha and Mahottari, which have a high prevalence of poverty and TB.