The importance of providing counselling and financial support to patients receiving treatment for multi-drug resistant TB

People with MDR-TB in low-income countries face many problems during treatment, and cure rates are low

Abstract

People with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in low-income countries face many problems during treatment, and cure rates are low. The purpose of the study was (a) to identify and document the problems experienced by people receiving care for MDR-TB, and how they cope when support is not provided, to inform development of strategies; (b) to estimate the effectiveness of two resultant strategies, counselling alone, and joint counselling and financial support, of increasing DOTS-plus treatment success under routine programme conditions.

This research is supported by the Department for International Development’s COMDIS–HSD Programme which is led by the University of Leeds

Citation

Baral, S.C.; Aryal, Y.; Bhattrai, R.; King, R.; Newell, J.N. The importance of providing counselling and financial support to patients receiving treatment for multi-drug resistant TB: mixed method qualitative and pilot intervention studies. BMC Public Health (2014) 14 (1) 46. [DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-46]

The importance of providing counselling and financial support to patients receiving treatment for multi-drug resistant TB: mixed method qualitative and pilot intervention studies

Published 1 January 2014