A report on home visiting practices conducted in remote districts of Nepal in an NGO-run tuberculosis control programme.
To establish the role of home visiting in an NGO-run tuberculosis control programme in Nepal, information was collected on home visits to a cohort of 205 smear-positive patients. Almost one third of new smear-positive cases were visited, either for treatment initiation (n = 33) or for retrieval following non-attendance (n = 29); thus 14% of patients required a home visit to ensure treatment completion. It is unlikely that the WHO-recommended target of 85% cure rate would be achieved without defaulter tracing, although a further study comparing home visiting against no visiting would be necessary to assess the contribution that this activity makes to improving treatment outcomes.
White
A J
AJ
The Britain Nepal Medical Trust, Morang.
Robinson-White
C M
CM
Luitel
H
H
D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006792:House Calls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007538:Isoniazid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013828:Thioacetazone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*
D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D013828:Thioacetazone; D007538:Isoniazid