Table 3. Costs faced by smear-negative and smear-positive patients.
| Smear-negative | Smear-positive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean number of visits before treatment | 5.9 | 4.5 | |||
|
Mean (median) |
Mean (median) |
||||
| Fees and drugs | MK 887 (MK 340) | US$ 11.72 (US$ 4.49) | MK 310 (MK 103) | US$ 4.10 (US$ 1.36) | |
| Transport costs | MK 317 (MK 200) | US$ 4.19 (US$ 2.64) | MK 222 (MK 95) | US$ 2.93 (US$ 1.25) | |
| Food costs | MK 129 (MK 30) | US$ 1.70 (US$ 0.40) | MK 174 (MK 0) | US$ 2.30 (US$ 0) | |
| Total direct costs | MK 1 302 (MK 670) | US$ 17.20 (US$ 8.85) | MK 692 (MK 343) | US$ 9.14 (US$ 4.53) | |
| Number of work days lost | 19.8 | 24.3 | |||
MK = Malawi kwacha.