Gridlock from diagnosis to treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Tanzania: low accessibility of molecular diagnostic services and lack of healthcare worker empowerment in 28 districts of 5 high burden TB regions with mixed methods evaluation.

Background: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) outcomes are adversely impacted by delay in diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: Mixed qualitative and quantitative approaches were utilized to identify healthcare system related barriers to implementation of molecular diagnostics for MDR-TB. Randomly sampled districts from the 5 highest TB burden regions were enrolled during the 4th quarter of 2016.

Gridlock from Diagnosis to Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Tanzania: Illuminating Potential Factors for Possible Intervention.

Settings: Kibong'oto Infectious Diseases Hospital, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

Objective: Characterise multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB)-treated cases during the scaling up of molecular diagnostics using Xpert MTB/RIF and GenoType MTBDRplus.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.