[Are tuberculosis advisory committees well-functioning?].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the function status of TB advisory committee to assess treatments of tuberculosis.


OBJECTIVE
Estimate by questionnaire sheets to public health nurses attending to seminars on tuberculosis at Research Institute of Tuberculosis.


RESULTS
137 answers are available for analysis. Of these, 57 (41.6%) TB advisory committees are estimated not to assess treatments of tuberculosis at all and/or to assess treatments without necessary informations on drug sensitivity in more than around half of the cases. In 13 (16.3%) committees of the other 80, many cases are in fact self-assessed. Number of committees that are estimated to functioning well is only 44 (32.1%).


CONCLUSIONS
Many TB advisory committees are estimated to be malfunctioning from the stand point of assessments of treatment. As TB advisory committee is one of key agency to control drug-resistant tuberculosis, its reform and revitalization are urgently needed.
Ito
Kunihiko
K
Department of Research, Research Institute of Tuberculosis, JATA, Tokyo, Japan. ito@jata.or.jp
Kobayashi
Noriko
N
Nagata
Yoko
Y
Yoshiyama
Takashi
T
Wada
Masako
M
Ogata
Hideo
H
D026683:Advisory Committees / Q000592:standards*; D007564:Japan; D011637:Public Health Nursing; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000628:therapy*