Table 4.

Comparison of themes emerged from qualitative interviews between people with shorter delays and people with longer delays to TB diagnosis

	Themes
	Similarities	Short delay	Long delay
Barriers to TB care-seeking	Lack of perceived risk and susceptibility to TB	Lack of perceived threat of TB to their own health	Sought private health care/self-medicated prior to TB diagnosis
	Unable to travel to health facilities due to intolerable symptoms or logistical constraints	Competing priorities – work, livelihood, and family responsibilities
Facilitators to TB care-seeking	Encouragement from family members, and other TB survivors	Fear of infecting others	Intolerable symptoms
	Easy access to TB diagnosis provided by non-governmental organizations	Perceived illness would affect health, wellbeing, work, and livelihood
Reasons for seeking private healthcare/self-medicate	Better access (facilities are closer to home)	Perceived illness to be less serious	Perceived to provide better care and service, and the medicines are more effective
Reasons for seeking public healthcare	Financially affordable	Perceived to provide better and safer care	Experienced good service in the past
TB stigma		Felt ashamed/embarrassed because of TB	Perceived stigma and discrimination against people with TB

TB Tuberculosis