National tuberculosis control programmes of Nepal and India : are they using the correct treatment regimens?
Abstract
This paper examines and compares these regimens and the reactions to them in the context of Nepal and India. This is done from the perspective of an attempt to understand the market and other forces driving the sales of TB drugs, which are addressed in the first section. The majority of TB patients receive their treatment outside the public sector. The authors argue that while the scientific evidence may be equivocal over the efficacy of the national DOTS regimens, policy decisions should be made in the light of this local context. Secondly, they examine the reaction to the prescribed national regimens from practitioners in the private sector in Nepal and India. Although the regimen decisions were made in part because of cost implications, the very choice of the regimens themselves has hampered efforts to ‘integrate’ the non-public sector into an overall attempt to control tuberculosis.
Citation
Harper, I. National tuberculosis control programmes of Nepal and India : are they using the correct treatment regimens? Journal of health studies (2009) 1 (1/3)