Tuberculosis treatment outcomes among retreatment patients registered by private practitioners in Myanmar.

The objectives of this retrospective cohort study were to report treatment outcomes and identify factors associated with treatment failure among all retreatment tuberculosis (TB) patients registered in the public-private mix DOTS programme of Populations Services International-Myanmar over 6 years. Among 3643 retreatment patients, 2657 (73%) were successfully treated and 309 (8.5%) failed. This study shows that retreatment patients who have failed treatment for their first TB episode are almost twice as likely to fail a second time (13.5%). We have identified some key programmatic challenges associated with retreatment TB in the private sector, and steps are being taken to address this issue.