Participants’ profile
Eight FGD sessions were held with PMDs and 5 IDIs with TBCPMs. Each of the FGDs was made up of 8 PMDs giving a total of 64 participants with an age range of 23 to 50 years and median age of 32 years. In the urban area, there were 18 female and 14 male participants. In the rural area, there were 12 female and 20 male participants. Six of the participants comprising 4 males and 2 females were graduates including 2 who were also Junior Community Health Extension Workers; all the other participants completed secondary education. The duration of practice as PMD ranged from 2 to 14 years with a median of 7 years.
Five IDIs were held with the TBCPMs. Four of the discussants are Tuberculosis Supervisors at the LGA level while the fifth works as a TB Programme Manager at the state level. The age range of the discussants is 30 to 53 years with a median of 40 years. All the discussants are males and attained tertiary education. The work experience of the managers ranged from 3 to 27 years with a median of 4 years.
Patent Medicine Dealers’ knowledge of tuberculosis
Most of the participants were aware that TB is caused by a germ and could be transmitted from one person to another. A few of them were specific that bacterium is the cause of the disease and some of them even mentioned the name of the bacterium. The participants knew many of the signs and symptoms of TB. Most of them knew that chronic cough is an identifying criterion for TB with some of them even describing the disease as a chronic cough. These were captured thus:
“Tuberculosis is a bacterial infectious disease caused by Mycobacterial tuberculosis”. It can affect different organs of the body including lung, bones, and lymph nodes. It can also affect animals; the one that infects cow is called Mycobacterial bovis” (male PMD, urban area).
“I begin to suspect TB when my customer has cough that has lasted for about two weeks or more, night sweat, weight loss or coughing out of blood” (female PMD, rural area).
“When someone affected with TB coughs, he introduces the germ into the air which can infect another person” (male PMD, rural area).
However, few of the participants had poor knowledge of the disease, its symptoms and mode of transmission. A participant referred to TB as a venereal disease, explaining that it is transmitted through sexual intercourse and another participant mentioned that drinking water using same cup used by someone who has TB could make another contract the disease as captured in these quotes:
“Tuberculosis is a venereal disease. It is contracted through sexual intercourse between a man and a woman” (male PMD, rural area).
“A person affected by TB should not drink water using the same cup as other members of his family to avoid infecting others with the disease” (female PMD, rural area).
Two other participants who did not know the correct symptoms of TB were of the opinion that TB causes low temperature and one believed that TB affects only adults, explaining that children are rarely affected. These were presented as follows:
“The body of a person affected by TB swells up when the disease is advanced and the patient will have low temperature” (female PMD, rural area).
“Tuberculosis causes low temperature and usually affects only adults; it is not common in children” (female PMD, urban area).
Patent Medicine Dealers’ practices about presumptive tuberculosis
Two discussants made it clear that they made referral of client with chronic cough a priority. One of them stated that he always refers his clients because he is duty-bound to do so and NAPPMED has penalty for any of her members who treats clients with serious condition beyond the limit permitted them by law. Another discussant said that she valued the lives of her clients more than the money she makes from her business and that patient referral is a noble thing to do. She believes that referring clients makes her gain the trust of the people because they will see her as someone who knows her limitations and does what is right. These were captured in the following quotes:
“Nothing will make me not to refer customers with chronic cough as it is binding on all our union (referring to NAPPMED) members to refer such customers. Our union has penalty for any member who attempts to treat what is beyond him or her to treat” (male PMD, rural area).
“Life is more precious than money and referring customers with chronic cough will not decrease my income. It will even promote my business because the villagers will say that I am a good person who knows my limit and so bring more sick persons to me for treatment. It is noble to do so” (female PMD, urban area).
However, the belief that they could treat any cough irrespective of the cause and duration of the symptom was evident in statements made by four other discussants, which was corroborated by few others. Their action is to first administer cough medicines to clients and observe them for a period ranging from two to seven days before considering to refer the clients. The participants based their decision regarding client referral on whether there is improvement symptomatically with the cough medicines or not; clients who did not improve with the medicines were referred while those who did were not. Two of the discussants had these to say:
“When I give patients cough medicine, I ask them to come back after two days. If the patients improve with the treatment, I will not refer them to DOTS facility because it shows that the medicine I have given them is good for the cough. If they come back and the sickness is still serious, I tell them to go to hospitals like Mile IV Hospital Abakaliki (a hospital popularly known for treatment of TB patients) or the Teaching Hospital in Abakaliki for treatment” (female PMD, rural area).
“I give them medicines and ask them to take them for seven days after which I refer them to Mile IV Hospital Abakaliki if they do not improve with my treatment” (male PMD, urban area).
Again, statements made by two participants which were corroborated by few others show that both the providers and the patients did not know that TB treatment is free of charge to patients. The providers did not educate the patients that treatment for TB is free of charge when patients complained of financial difficulty following attempts to refer them. These were captured thus:
“Occasionally, patients complain of financial constraints when I ask them to go to the hospital for treatment and they request that I give them cough medicines with the little money they have” (male PMD, urban area).
“Sometimes, my cough clients are so poor that instead of asking them to go to hospital when I know they will not be able to afford the transportation and treatment and especially when they have requested that I treat them at my shop, I decide to treat them myself” (male PMD, rural area).
Some of the participants alleged poor attitude of formal health facility staff and prolonged waiting time in hospitals, citing them as reasons why they do not refer their clients with chronic cough to health facilities. The discussants presented their reasons in a way that suggests that they were mere assumptions made based on feedbacks gotten from their clients. Two of the participants said:
“Occasionally, the health workers in hospitals feel less concerned when I refer patients to them; my clients usually complain of poor attention given to them and the preferential treatment given to some other persons. This poor attitude discourages me from referring clients sometimes” (male PMD, urban area).
“Occasionally, patients’ complaints of prolonged waiting time and too many protocols involved in getting services in public health facilities makes them to refuse my referral and prefer to be treated in my facility” (female PMD, urban area).
Patent Medicine Dealers’ willingness to be involved in tuberculosis control
Most of the participants overtly expressed their willingness to get involved in TB case finding efforts, stating that they are ready to collaborate with the NTBLCP, at whatever level they are invited to be involved. One of the participants said:
“People living in this village know us (referring to PMDs) and they trust us. If government, individuals, Non-Governmental Organizations or other partners in TB programme want to look into this matter (referring to TB case finding), they should collaborate with us to pass down their message” (male PMD, urban).
A participant made it known that PMDs could serve as linkage between clients with chronic cough and DOTS providers. Two other discussants went on to say that they can get involved in sputum sample collection from patients. Some of the participants had these to say:
“We can help in TB case finding effort by linking patients with chronic cough to the DOTS facility personnel” (female PMD, rural area).
“When we see patients with chronic cough, we can collect information about them including their names, phone numbers and addresses and send to DOTS providers to follow them up” (male PMD, rural area).
“We can help is in collecting sputum samples from patients whose cough has lasted long if we are given sputum cup to do so” (male PMD, rural area).
Two participants suggested that there should be an official means of communication between PMDs and DOTS facility personnel to ensure there is effective communication between them. The participants said:
“We frequently encounter patients with long lasting cough. If there are means of communication between us and DOTS staff, it will allow for easy linkage of patients who present to us to DOTS centres” (female PMD, urban area).
“Provide us with phone numbers for contact with DOTS providers; that way we will be able to work together by referring our customers to them” (male PMD, urban area).
Perspectives of TBCPMs regarding involvement of PMDs in tuberculosis control
All discussants attested to involvement of PMDs in the activities of TB control. A discussant cited TB Reach supported by German Leprosy and TB Relief Association (GLRA), as a programme in which PMDs were trained on TB case detection and encouraged to identify and refer PTBCs to DOTS facilities. The discussant had this to say:
“In the project TB Reach, GLRA trained about 10 PMDs in the state and requested them to be referring all PTBCs to the nearest DOTS facility. However, the project could not continue because there were no incentives for the PMDs” (TBCPM, rural area).
The discussant further recalled how PMDs were invited to participate in workshops on TB and reiterated how their participation has served as a motivation to them because usually after the workshop and several years after, the co-operation of the PMDs with the TB control programme was remarkable; this was evidenced by the increase in number of referrals of PTBCs by PMDs. He said:
“Previously, PMDs used to be invited to workshops on TB by the NTBLCP after which they were given some rewards. This motivated them and till today, some of the PMDs who participated in those workshops still call me each time they have PTBCs” (TBCPM, rural area).
A second discussant narrated how the NTBLCP, through the TBCPMs, has been engaging PMDs in the form of TB awareness creation and sensitization during PMDs’ monthly meetings, encouraging them to screen their clients who present with cough for TB, by asking them for the duration of the symptom and other symptoms, and referring those eligible to DOTS centres for diagnosis and treatment. Another discussant corroborated the second but alleged poor cooperation of the PMDs with NTBLCP, stating that PMDs have not been referring clients with much interest. The narration and allegation were captured thus:
“We (referring to TBCPM) usually organize visits to create an awareness during the monthly PMDs’ meetings. We engage them by taking few minutes to create awareness about TB and its signs and symptoms and educate them on the procedures of referring PTBCs to DOTS centres for diagnosis” (TBCPM, urban area).
“When we attend their meetings, we educate them on signs and symptoms of TB. Afterwards we encourage them to screen clients and send those eligible to DOTS facilities closest to them by issuing them with sputum request forms with which they could refer PTBCs. However, they have not been doing that with much interest” (TBCPM, rural).
A discussant alleged that there is on-going malpractice in management of TB in patent medicine shops, stressing that engaging PMDs more formerly in TB control could help to reduce the malpractice level. He gave the following narrative as a proof of what happens:
“I usually stand by the side of a drug vendor in the evening to take a look at the population of clients that go to patent medicine shops. Occasionally, I pretend I am buying medicine when in actual sense I am there to observe how the PMDs do their clerking and how they treat the patients. Usually, I feel disappointed where very severely ill persons will come to PMDs who are usually semi-illiterate and after listing his complaints, the PMDs will claim to have diagnosed the problem and start mixing medicines for the patients as if they are professors of medicine. So, it is important to formally involve PMDs in TBLCP to avoid this kind of problem by sensitizing them, orientating them and possibly giving them enlightenment because if you leave them, they will do worse things” (TBCPM, urban area).
Two other discussants also alleged mismanagement of TB patients by PMDs, stating that PMDs give antibiotics for treatment of cough without knowing the implications. The discussants condemned the use of antibiotics by the PMDs in the treatment of cough because there is a specified national guideline for treatment of TB which the PMDs are not observing and treatment of TB with wrong antibiotics or with anti-tuberculosis in inadequate dose predisposes to development of resistant organisms. One of the discussants expressed his views this way:
“Patent Medicine Dealers have patients that receive antibiotics for more than a month without knowing the implication in the emergence of drug resistant TB. The practice is bad because some of the antibiotics sold by PMDs are also used to treat TB and using it for a shorter duration than is prescribed in the national treatment guideline can lead to development of antibiotic resistance” (TBCPM, rural area).
Tuberculosis Control Programme Managers’ perceived constraints to involvement of PMDs in tuberculosis control
Most of the discussants complained of poor co-operation of the PMDs with the TB control programme in terms of referral of PTBCs. The discussants identified constant demand for incentives for the work of referring PTBCs by the PMDs as the major constraint to involvement of PMDs in the control programme. Two of the discussants noted:
“The constraint to involvement of PMDs is the constant expectation for incentives either financial or in the form of entertainment when we engage them in their meetings, without which they may not give us audience or full attention to the sensitization and may not do what we ask of them” (TBCPM, rural area).
“The PMDs are very reluctant in carrying out PTBC referral activity because there is no money involved in doing so. They want something that is symbiotic and can’t operate without give and take policy” (TBCPM, rural area).
Another discussant narrated his experience with the PMDs which show that they do not co-operate with TB control programme when no incentives are provided to them. He said:
“Each time I attend PMDs’ meeting, they will be paying attention to me based on what they can get from me thereafter and if at the end of the day I did not present anything that they will benefit instantly from, they will just do away with whatever I would have taught them except very few of them” (TBCPM, rural area).
Another constraint to involvement of the PMDs perceived by a discussant is the ineffective payment system for personnel involved in sputum sample collection and transportation to laboratory. The discussant explained that inadequacy of fund for transportation of sputum sample from collection site to laboratory for diagnosis and difficulty in accessing the fund, when it is available, is a problem not only for the personnel working with NTBLCP but also in involving PMDs. Such difficulty will delay sputum sample collection and transportation to laboratory. Narrating his experience as a manager in the NTBLCP, the discussant said:
“A barrier to effective transportation of sputum samples is the under-payment of personnel involved. This happens because personnel involved in sputum transport usually makes several visits, say five or six, to DOTS facility for sputum sample collection, submission and collection of result but usually gets paid for only two or three of such visits especially when the result is negative. Some of our health workers and DOTS focal persons who are supposed to be doing this work more than the PMDs are tired because the system of payment is very difficult to cope with. This challenge is not what any of us at the grass root, including the State TB Control Officer, can easily overcome but the funders of the programme” (TBCPM, rural area).
However, a discussant made it known that the NTBLCP has earmarked money for movement of sputum specimen and stated that for every case that is referred which is presumptive, the programme pays the PMD involved. The participant had this to say:
“A fund has been earmarked for movement of sputum specimen from the facility to Gene-Xpert sites. For intra-city referral, the budget is that if a PMD moves patient’s sputum specimen within an LGA, he will be entitled to #1500.00 ($3.14) and if it is between two LGAs, he will be entitled to #3000.00 (#6.28) and PMDs will be permitted to move samples twice a week” (TBCPM, urban area).
Perceived approaches for addressing the constraints to involvement of PMDs in tuberculosis control
The opinion of most of the TBCPMs is that PMDs should be more deeply engaged in NTBLCP by first imparting more knowledge of the disease to them through orientations, trainings, and continuing education. To achieve this purpose, two of the discussants suggested that the already existing TB awareness creation and sensitization of PMDs during their regular monthly meetings should be strengthened. The participants made their opinions known with these comments:
“The first thing in addressing constraints to the involvement of PMDs is to start imparting knowledge of TB on them by organizing trainings so they will have the knowledge because TB is not like other diseases that can be treated with usual prescriptions. The PMDs will be made to know the risks to themselves and to the communities of mismanaging TB cases and the likely outcomes of good management of cases. After imparting the knowledge on them, we have to work with them; some of the PMDs can be used as DOTS personnel under strict monitoring of LGA programme managers” (TBCPM, rural area).
“If PMDs are sensitized well, they will be able to screen, identify and refer cases to DOTS centres. They may also be given the opportunity to collect samples and send to the laboratory and can also be involved in treatment of cases by serving as treatment supporters. For those who will be able to do these, the programme will provide them with recording and reporting materials” (TBCPM, rural area).
Another discussant suggested that any measures to improve the cooperation of the NTBLCP with the PMDs should take into account the business interest of the drug vendors. He put it this way:
“The best thing to do is to engage PMDs and give them an idea of how they can technically refer chronic cough patients without losing their prestige, because they are highly regarded by members of the communities where they operate. That is a project that will take into cognizance their own business interest and also public health interest” (TBCPM, urban area).
A discussant recommended that the funders of NTBLCP should accommodate a budget line to support communication between PMDs and DOTS service providers on one hand and the PMDs and PTBCs on the other hand in order to facilitate the referral and linkage of clients with DOTS service. The recommendation was captured thus:
“Effective communication between PMDs and PTBCs on one hand and between PMDs and DOTS personnel on the other hand is necessary. The PMDs should collect the phone numbers of every PTBC seen and communicate with TBCPM and DOTS staff to ensure that such patient can easily be tracked. The funders of TB control programme should accommodate a budget line to support the PMDs in the communication process, providing them with airtime to facilitate the linkage of patients to DOTS centres and vice versa” (TBCPM, rural area).
Another discussant made it known that there is hope for funding of involvement of PMDs in TB control in the new model for utilization of Global Fund, stating that there is an Independent Principal Recipient of the Fund for private sector on TB control. Funding of PMDs’ involvement in TB control could partly be taken care of with the fund for private sector on TB. The participant had this to say:
“There is an independent principal recipient for the Global Fund purely for private sector. The principal recipient will focus purely on private sector on TB control while the National TB Control Programme will focus on the public sector. Involvement of PMDs in TB control could be partly funded with the fund for private sector on TB” (TBCPM, urban area).
A discussant, who alleged that there is unhealthy relationship between the PMDs and the pharmacists in Nigeria due to what he referred to as ‘the policing aspect of controlling the PMDs by the inspectorate division of pharmacy, the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria (PCN)’, advised that the PCN should be supportive in its supervision of the PMDs. This is because hostile regulatory approach causes a lot of harm to TB control and the health system at large. The discussant further sued for the incorporation of PMDs into the formal health system to take advantage of their wide reach-out in the communities. These are captured in the following quote:
“The way forward is to get the PMDs close, sit down and dialogue with them so that they will know their limit in treatment of patients. When they reach their limit, they should refer the patients to the next level of health care delivery. The health sector will be deceiving herself if it does not incorporate PMDs into the formal health system because any village you go to and you do not find PMDs, there is really no human beings there. They are the most established healthcare provider in terms of reach out and this is because their way of operation suits the poverty level of the people. Let the pharmacy department of the Ministry of Health be friendly with PMDs. Let there be no policing aspect of controlling the PMDs by the PCN because such regulatory approach is destroying things in the health sector” (TBCPM, urban area).