Between study sites, participants from Malawi were younger (p < 0.001), started ART earlier (p = 0.03), had a lower incidence of reported diarrhoea (p < 0.001), were less frequently treated for TB (p < 0.001), and more often had CD4 T-cell counts < 200 (p < 0.01) compared to participants from Zimbabwe. Here, CD4 is linked to tuberculosis.