Factors Associated with Patients’ Compliance with Tuberculosis Treatment in Kabul, Afghanistan

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a common infectious disease that has high burden in Afghanistan. Due to its high burden, this infectious disease is taking away life of 13000 people every year in Afghanistan (WHO, 2017). The Ministry of Public Health of Afghanistan and many other national and international NGOs have struggled a lot in order to reduce its burden. However, one of the reasons that TB is increasing among people were considered to be associated with patient compliance with TB treatment. This study seeks to identify factors associated with patient compliance with TB treatment in Kabul, Afghanistan. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used and data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 194 respondents (male and female, above 18 years old) who were TB patients were interviewed and informed consent was obtained from each respondent prior to data collection. For analysis of the data, SPSS was used. In this study it was found that the patient compliance with TB treatment are associated with the knowledge of patient about anti-TB drugs, the knowledge of patient’s family about TB, the availability of anti-TB drugs, financial and social problems, distance from hospital and level of satisfaction of patients from health services in TB hospital in Kabul. In order to tackle this public health challenge in Kabul, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and Ministry of Education need to intensify the health education, seek funding to increase the number of TB clinics, strengthen follow-up of TB patients, and develop health facilities for TB patients.