‘For a mere cough, men must just chew<i>Conjex</i>, gain strength, and continue working’: the provider construction and tuberculosis care-seeking implications in Blantyre, Malawi

Abstract

Early engagement with formal healthcare is critical to dealing with TB and HIV. However, role constructions as portrayed for men in this study, along with the opportunity costs of acknowledging illness seem, in conditions of vulnerability, important barriers to care-seeking. There is a need to address hidden care-seeking costs and to consider more complex interventions, including reducing precarity, in efforts to improve men's engagement with their health.