Upchar: A medi-kit to ensure adherence to TB treatment in India

Abstract

In this paper, we describe our efforts to address the problem of non-adherence to TB treatment. Efficient management of chronic diseases such as Tuberculosis remains a common problem. The WHO has declared TB as a global health emergency. Non-adherence to the prescribed medical regimen remains a tremendous barrier to the effective management of Tuberculosis and is considered one of the most serious problems that the medical world faces at present, especially in developing nations like India. We describe a system, with the objective of recommending changes to the current DOTS program under RNTCP. The proposed system consists of some unique features which could strengthen the existing system. In our research, it was found that adherence records lacked authenticity as well as efficiency, which becomes critical in a chronic diseases such as Tuberculosis. We conceptualized a system consisting of a medi-kit which is technologically enabled to keep track of dosage records and default cases. This enables providers and supervisors with a system facilitating regular monitoring. Besides this, the problem of side-effects was also identified as one of the primary reasons for defecting from treatment. The medi-kit has the facility to keep a track of the side-effects being encountered by the patient, which would help in regular monitoring of the patient's health profile and assist in taking pertinent medical action.