OpASHA : Improving Tuberculosis Treatment and Outcomes
Tuberculosis (TB) afflicts 2.8 million citizens in India, representing more than 30 percent of the world’s total burden. To control TB, complete adherence to treatment is crucial—under the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Directly Observed Therapy...
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| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/761511495104055640/OpASHA-improving-tuberculosis-treatment-and-outcomes http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27665 |
| Summary: | Tuberculosis (TB) afflicts 2.8 million
citizens in India, representing more than 30 percent of the
world’s total burden. To control TB, complete adherence to
treatment is crucial—under the World Health Organization’s
(WHO) Directly Observed Therapy Short-course (DOTS)
strategy. In this strategy, patients are required to take up
to 75 doses under supervision over six months at a treatment
center or in the presence of an observer. However, the
scarcity or inaccessibility of treatment centers and
truthful observers in hard to-reach areas often results in
high default rates. Missing a dose or interrupting treatment
is extremely dangerous, since those who default can relapse,
or much worse, develop the deadlier, drug-resistant strain
of TB. A continuing social stigma for those who have TB is
also linked to incomplete treatment and lack of follow-up.
There is poor data collection as well. Since 2006, Operation
ASHA (OpASHA) has helped deliver the Last-mile connection to
TB treatment and prevention in India by leveraging existing
government infrastructure to supplement the country’s own
efforts. OpASHA receives free medicines, diagnostic
facilities and physician services from the national TB
control program. Through a partnership with Microsoft
Research, OpASHA has pioneered a biometric technology called
eCompliance for treatment. OpASHA serves 10 million people
in nine states across India, in addition to 2.2 million
people in Cambodia. OpASHA has expanded to Cambodia, and its
model has already been replicated in Uganda, Kenya, and the
Dominican Republic. |
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