Practical challenges and solutions to TB control in a lower–middle-income country: Experiences from Mongolia
© ERS 2018. The challenges of tuberculosis (TB) control vary significantly between countries with a low and high incidence of TB. A major focus of TB control efforts in countries with a low incidence of TB is on treatment of latent TB infection in high-risk groups [1] including contacts of pat...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
European Respiratory Society
2018
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1123733 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/81548 |
| Summary: | © ERS 2018.
The challenges of tuberculosis (TB) control vary significantly between countries with a low and high incidence of TB. A major focus of TB control efforts in countries with a low incidence of TB is on treatment
of latent TB infection in high-risk groups [1] including
contacts of patients with active TB [2], patients
with medical conditions that increase the risk of
TB reactivation [3–5] and migrants from settings
with a high incidence of TB [6, 7].
By contrast, in low- and middle-income
countries with a high incidence of TB, the major
focus of TB control programmes is on the detection
and management of cases with active TB [1].
Frequent challenges include resource limitations,
barriers to accessing TB care including distance
to travel for patients to attend centralised
services, indirect and direct cost associated with
TB treatment for patients, limited staff capacity,
and need for capacity building in health systems
management and operational research. Using
the example of Mongolia, we illustrate the role of
operational research, community initiatives and
nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to improve
TB care in low- and middle-income countries with
a high incidence of TB. |
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