Table 1. Countries, Thematic Areas and Topics of FGDs .

Country	Brazil	Germany	Nepal	Uganda
Thematic area	Infectious diseases; healthcare system	Public health nutrition; non-communicable diseases	Sexual and reproductive health; health services research	WaSH; infectious diseases
Topic of FGD	Tuberculosis guidelines and decentralized actions related to tuberculosis control	(Health) implications of an elimination of an EU quota system on isoglucose and considerations regarding countermeasures (eg, labelling, taxation and/or prohibition of products)	Health services related to sexual reproductive health and rights of adolescents	Management of untreated wastewater, including sewage from septic tanks and fecal sludge from pit latrines
Country income group	Middle-income country	High-income country	Low-income country	Low-income country
WHO region	Latin American Region	European Region	South East Asian Region	African Region
Researcher(s) conducting FGD	AAM, CEMR	JMS	DP	JO, KS
Date of FGD	June 2018	June 2018	October 2017	August 2017
Number of participants	n = 17	n = 7	n = 8	n = 8
Characteristics of participants and rationale	Multidisciplinary staff and invited members of National Coordination for Tuberculosis Control Program directly dealing with national policies implementation, decision-making and public health protocols design and adaptation	Staff of the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority across several departments advising on and preparing decisions regarding food safety and food regulation on the level of a German federal state	National level experts from governmental institutions (eg, divisions of ministry of health) and Nepali experts from national and international NGOs working on development and implementation of programs of and rights ASRH	Members of a national workgroup on water and sanitation from diverse organizational sectors, including national and sub-national government, nongovernmental/civil society, NGO network, and private actors with expertise in water and sanitation guideline implementation; including Ugandan representative of the Sanitation and Water for All network and WHO sanitation guideline development; (note: foreign aid and multilateral organizations were excluded)
Recruitment approach	Direct contact with implementation science expert and researchers working on the topic to identify a diverse set of key experts; invitation of identified experts by the local researchers directly via email.	Direct contact (personal, via telephone or email) of staff members involved with analyzing the implications of food safety or providing guidance on such countermeasures within the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority	Direct contact (in person, telephone) to individual experts from the federal ministry of health and individual national and international NGOs; snowballing recruitment of additional experts in the field through the directly contacted experts	In-person recruitment of key contacts at professional conferences followed by more extensive email recruitment within national water and sanitation work group; snowballing recruitment through referral to other potential participants in their networks of professionals doing work on national WaSH issues
Duration FGD	130 minutes	95 minutes	100 minutes	120 minutes
Setting of data collection	Brasília, Brazil Conference room in the building of the National Coordination for the National Tuberculosis Control Program	Munich, Germany Conference room in the building of the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority (1 participant via video link)	Kathmandu, Nepal Conference room at centrally located hotel	Kampala, Uganda Conference room at WHO offices
Language of FGD/analysis	Portuguese/English	German/German	Nepali/English	English/English

Abbreviations: WaSH, Water, sanitation, and hygiene; FGD, focus group discussion; EU, European Union; WHO, World Health Organization; ASRH, adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights; NGO, non-governmental organization.