 Standard treatment outcome indicators developed by the WHO and the NTC will be used to compare the effectiveness of the strategies. Treatment outcome data will be collected by a team of three tuberculosis experts who are not involved in the study. Treatment outcome of PTB patients should be assessed by sputum microscopy for the presence of acid fast bacilli while clinical improvements and adherence to treatment will be used to assess the outcome of PTB- patients by clinicians. Cure and treatment completion rates are used to compare treatment groups. A patient is declared cured if confirmed to be sputum smear negative at the end of treatment or one month prior to the completion of treatment and on at least one previous occasion. A patient should be recorded as treatment completed if smear results were not available on at least two occasions or has negative pre-treatment results. A patient who has been on treatment for at least 4 weeks and whose treatment was interrupted for more than 8 consecutive weeks or for a cumulative period of more than 12 weeks should be classified as a defaulter and a patient who remains smear-positive at 5 months or later during treatment should be considered to be a failure. A patient who had started treatment for at least 4 weeks and had been transferred to another district should be recorded as transferred out. 