Engaging Community Pharmacies in Early Detection of Missing Tuberculosis Patients through Public-Private Mix Intervention in Pakistan.

Engaging Community Pharmacies in Early Detection of Missing Tuberculosis Patients through Public-Private Mix Intervention in Pakistan.

Ullah, Waseem;Almansour, Hadi;Fatima, Razia;Saini, Bandana;Khan, Gul Majid;
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 2020
291
ullah2020engagingthe

Abstract

Globally, Pakistan ranks fifth in terms of missing tuberculosis (TB) patients' burden. Missed TB cases are either undiagnosed or diagnosed but not notified to the national TB database. Public-private mix interventions are contributing significantly to the case detection, diagnosis, and treatment of TB in Pakistan. However, it is estimated that many cases of infected TB patients go undetected. It is likely that these "undiagnosed" active TB cases seek treatment from community pharmacies, among other venues. This study aimed at assessing the feasibility of community pharmacy-based TB case detection. Case detection protocol implementation in three Pakistani districts in a nonrandom selection of pharmacies was followed by a review of routinely maintained prospective records of patients referred from these private community pharmacies to general practitioner (GP) clinics. The study engaged 500 community pharmacies for referring presumptive TB patients to GP clinics. In total, 85% of the engaged pharmacies remained active in providing referrals during the study period. The community pharmacy-referral network achieved an annual referral rate of 3,025 presumptive TB patients and identified 547 active TB cases for the period January-December 2017. Every fifth referral among presumptives presenting and counseled at pharmacies was diagnosed with TB at GP clinics. This contribution was 9% of all new TB cases identified in these districts through all other private venues linked with the Greenstar Social Marketing setup. Identified barriers and facilitators to implementation and cost effectiveness of pharmacy models for TB case detection should be considered if the model were to be scaled up.

Citation

ID: 106461
Ref Key: ullah2020engagingthe
Use this key to autocite in SciMatic or Thesis Manager

References

Blockchain Verification

Account:
NFT Contract Address:
0x95644003c57E6F55A65596E3D9Eac6813e3566dA
Article ID:
106461
Unique Identifier:
10.4269/ajtmh.19-0939
Network:
Scimatic Chain (ID: 481)
Loading...
Blockchain Readiness Checklist
Authors
Abstract
Journal Name
Year
Title
5/5
Creates 1,000,000 NFT tokens for this article
Token Features:
  • ERC-1155 Standard NFT
  • 1 Million Supply per Article
  • Transferable via MetaMask
  • Permanent Blockchain Record
Blockchain QR Code
Scan with Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet

Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet