Introduction:

The active case finding of tuberculosis in Primary Health Care as part of the disease control program in Cuba, has challenges at implementation that need to be studied.

Objective:

To explore the opinions of the health stakeholders involved in the implementation of active case finding of tuberculosis in Las Tunas.

Methods:

A qualitative study was carried out in two stages, nested in an intervention study in Las Tunas. In the first stage (September-December, 2010) family doctors and nurses in Jobabo and Las Tunas municipalities were interviewed; and in the second stage (March 2012), all program managers (provincial and municipal) and an expert on tuberculosis were interviewed. Deductive and inductive analysis categories were used.

Results:

The active case finding of tuberculosis was recognized as a novel procedure associated with the screening for respiratory symptoms among all family members during home visits, classification of the entire population into risk groups and working with vulnerable groups. At the beginning there were barriers to the implementation of this procedure, which was subsequently accepted. Timely diagnosis and increase in the number of cases investigated were the advantages, among others. The lack of time, the increase in workload and the staff turnover were the main difficulties.

Conclusions:

This study provides valuable information for implementing this procedure as part of tuberculosis control program. It reveals the gap between the perception of the stakeholders involved in the implementation of health interventions in pilot studies and from those engaged in their implementation.

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