Effectiveness of directly observed treatment of tuberculosis patients under RNTCP in a rural area of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

Background Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem worldwide and India rank first in terms of total numbers of incident cases. Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) is the heart of Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) and the effectiveness of this programme has not been evaluated in the rural setup of Varanasi. With this background this study was conducted in this area. Objective To describe the socio demographic characteristics of registered patients in PHC Chiraigaon block and the treatment outcome of DOTS. Methods This study was conducted in Primary Health Center (PHC) Chiraigaon community development block of Varanasi district adopting a community based prospective design. All the case of TB patients registered at PHC Chiraigaon block from 1st July 2006 to 30th June 2007, were the study subjects and were followed up to 15 months to know the treatment outcome as recommended by RNTCP. Information pertaining to patients was collected by interviewing them with the help of predesigned and pretested interview schedule. Results About half 75 (51.7%) patients were male and rest 48.3% were females. The treatment success rate was 109(75.2%). The defaulter rate was 25(17.2%). Patients who received drugs from Informal DOT Providers were significantly more likely to be Defaulters than patients who were treated by Formal DOT Providers (Relative risk = 3.5; 95% Confidence Interval=1.1-11.1; p=0.03). None of DOT providers was found to observe the swallowing of tablets by the patients Conclusion The cure rate in our study was below and defaulter rate was more than the target of RNTCP and the important factors identified were type of DOT providers and distance of patients from DOT center. © 2010, Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development. All rights reserved.