Perspectives of Stakeholders on the Sustainability of Tuberculosis Control Programme in Ghana

Objectives. To solicit the views of some key stakeholders involved in TB control in Ghana on the sustainability of the current programme and corresponding interventions and to further discuss these views in the context of improving and/or ensuring the sustainability of existing interventions and structures. Methods. The study employed an interpretivist (qualitative) approach in order to obtain the "lived" experiences of personnel who are involved in TB control, either directly or indirectly. Purposive sampling was applied to select 19 respondents who provided data for the study through in-depth interviews (IDIs). The IDI data was analysed inductively in a progressive manner. Thus, respective codes were allowed to emerge from the data as opposed to deductive coding where themes are precoded. Results. The findings reveal two main strands of views about the sustainability of the current TB control programmes: optimism and pessimism. The optimists revealed that the integration of TB into the generalised health system, integration of TB and HIV control services, the use of internally generated funds of health facilities, and a general improvement in socioeconomic conditions of the general population could provide positive pathways to sustainability. The pessimists on the other hand noted that the existing programme was not likely to be sustainable so long as much of the operational funds were derived from external sources. Largely, the views of the pessimists were influenced by their past experiences in TB control. Conclusions. This paper has shown both opportunities and threats to sustainability of TB control in Ghana. The opportunities and threats could be managed positively depending on how policy actors respond to the issues raised.