Acceptability and feasibility of tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus bidirectional screening and joint treatment services in Malawi: a cross-sectional study and a policy document review

Objectives: A cross-sectional and a policy document review study was performed to investigate perceived acceptability and feasibility to implementing different integration measures for tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) healthcare among healthcare workers (HCWs) and health managers, and to describe policy influence through a policy documents review in Malawi.

Setting: The survey was performed at eight hospitals, ministry of health offices and 10 non-governmental organisations. We collected data in March and April 2021.

Participants: Of 95 HCWs and health managers invited; 92 participated. 21/92 (23%) were female, and 17/92 (18%) participants were from clinics that piloted the integrated care for TB and DM.

Outcome measures: We described awareness levels on TB/DM comorbidity, perceptions and experiences in TB/DM care. Furthermore, development processes and contents of included documents were analysed.

Results: 16/17 (94%) of HCWs from clinics piloting integrated care and 65/75 (86%) HCWs from hospitals that do not use integrated care for TB and DM responded that integrated care was acceptable and feasible. In qualitative data, shortage of resources, inadequate information sharing were common themes. We included seven relevant documents for the analysis. On development process and content, six of seven documents were scored ≥70%. In these documents, DM is a recognised risk factor for TB, and integration of healthcare services for infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases is recommended, however, these documents lacked information specifically on integrated care for TB and DM.

Conclusion: In this study, we identified inadequate information sharing, and lack of resources as major factors impeding implementation of integration of services, however, awareness on TB/DM comorbidity was high.