Monday, April 8, 2013

Prevention of DR-TB.......a fantasy


Prevention of DR-TB – I am yet to understand if there is any such agenda  in TB program or it is just a fantasizing imagination? The amount of efforts we put in creating hue and cry over DR-TB, probably we don’t even invest 10% of that energy and emotion to advocate for DR-TB prevention.

Does it mean DR-TB is an unpreventable illness?

There is no scientific evidence that said so. DR-TB is preventable. It is said to be a man-made phenomena and requires quality implementation and monitoring of the basic activities that can ensure drug adherence and timely treatment completion by the TB patients enrolled in the national program.

In public health programs 'basic' interventions often bypass due attention of the managers and activists.

A notable example is patient-provider meetings. These meetings were introduced into national TB control initiative as the key platform of TB patients’ education and treatment compliance that can further lead to effective community-facility collaboration.

Can anyone of this forum share the experiences of a patient-provider meeting? How the quality of such meetings is being ensured? What outputs and outcomes are expected from these meetings? What indicators are being used to monitor these activities? Any relevant case study showing expected results?

I believe I am asking for too much.

Sometimes I feel we are just inviting DR-TB to perish us.

Exactly the way, HIV was combated with poorly organized prevention strategies and tools, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, decades ago.
   
We already saw the result of that.