Early culture conversion is a poor marker of treatment outcome among people with HIV and drug-resistant TB.

Objective: Our objective was to determine associations between early (≤2 months) culture conversion (ECC) among people with HIV and drug-resistant tuberculosis (DRTB) in Uganda.

Methods: This was a countrywide retrospective cohort of people with bacteriologically confirmed DRTB and a positive baseline culture at 16 centres in Uganda between 2013 and 2019. Data were abstracted from treatment files and unit DRTB registers.