Programme approaches and aid delivery mechanisms
The internationally recommended treatment strategy for detection and cure of tuberculosis (TB) is DOTS (directly observed treatment, short-course). Patients are diagnosed using microscopy services. Health staff observe them swallowing the full dosage of anti-TB medicine and completing the 6-8 month course of treatment. Sputum smear testing is repeated after two months and again at the end of the course. Patients' progress and final outcome of treatment are systematically recorded.
The main limitation of the strategy is that it requires a coherent and functioning public health system in order to be effective. Drug resistance arises from improper use of antibiotics, either through incorrect administration of treatment by health workers, or lack of direct observation of patients.
- The Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015
- This document, produced by the Stop TB Partnership, assesses the action and resources needed to make an impact on the global burden of tuberculosis (TB). It describes the main achievements in global TB control since 2000, the TB situation today, and the challenges that lie ahead.
Recommended reading
- The stop TB strategy: building on and enhancing DOTS to meet the TB related Millennium Development Goals
- ( WHO Tuberculosis Programme , 2006)
- This World Health Organization paper defines the Stop TB Strategy which underpins the second global plan to stop TB (2006-2015). The goal of the strategy is to reduce dramatically the global burden of...
- Running out of breath: TB care in the 21st century
- ( Médecins Sans Frontières , 2004)
- This paper, produced by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), examines current TB control efforts, focusing on the internationally recommended DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course) programme stra...
- Linking local knowledge with global action: examining the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria through a knowledge system lens
- ( L. van Kerkhoff; N. Szlezak / Bulletin of the World Health Organization : the International Journal of Public Health , 2006)
- Recommended reading
- This article, from the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO), examines how the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) is affecting the role of knowledge in decision maki...
Latest Additions
- Integrating HIV and TB care in Benin and the DRC
- ( Josef Decosas (ed) / Health Research for Action , 2008)
- This document is the final evaluation of a three year project to pilot integrated HIV and TB care in Benin and the DRC. The project was implemented by the National Tuberculosis Programmes of the two c...
Coordination from new and existing donors needed to achieve global goals
- ( R. Brugha;M. Donoghue;M. Starling / The Lancet , 2004)
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This paper published in the Lancet, tracks early implementation experiences of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in four African countries: Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Z...
