Abstracts Womens Studies

Women’s Perspectives on Pathway to Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

by Git Wikström

<strong>Objectives:</strong>  A qualitative study to explore the perceptions and ideas of women at community level in Uganda, about factors influencing their health care-seeking behaviour when symptoms that could indicate pulmonary tuberculosis. To let the women identify barriers to health care-seeking and to let them present ideas how to overcome barriers. <strong>Method:  </strong>Focus Group Discussions (72 informants) and In Depth Interviews (19 informants) were conducted in rural Uganda with women of reproductive age. For triangulation purposes discussions and interviews also included health care providers, traditional healers and a few men. <strong>Main Results</strong>: The data showed a wide range of health care-seeking behaviours including no action at all, self-treatment using traditional herbs or western medicines, consulting traditional healers and consulting various formal or informal healthcare facilities. The data also identified many barriers that could prevent women from getting a proper diagnosis, including lack of financial resources, lack of power, male supremacy in decision-making, lack of knowledge, perceived corruption in healthcare facilities, fear of stigma and this fear heavily boosted by the idea that PTB equates HIV/AIDS. <strong>Conclusion</strong>: These data support the idea that successfully fighting PTB among Ugandan women and increasing case finding, demands recognition that tuberculosis is a multifaceted disease: economical, social, psychological and medical. Therefore, approaches to eradicating tuberculosis must target different sectors and reach all levels of society