Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

<h4>Background</h4>Several interventions for tuberculosis (TB) control have been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) over the past decade. These include isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) for HIV-infected individuals and household contacts of infectious TB patients, diagno...

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Main Authors: Frank Cobelens, Sanne van Kampen, Eleanor Ochodo, Rifat Atun, Christian Lienhardt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS Medicine
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001358&type=printable
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author Frank Cobelens
Sanne van Kampen
Eleanor Ochodo
Rifat Atun
Christian Lienhardt
author_facet Frank Cobelens
Sanne van Kampen
Eleanor Ochodo
Rifat Atun
Christian Lienhardt
author_sort Frank Cobelens
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Several interventions for tuberculosis (TB) control have been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) over the past decade. These include isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) for HIV-infected individuals and household contacts of infectious TB patients, diagnostic algorithms for rule-in or rule-out of smear-negative pulmonary TB, and programmatic treatment for multidrug-resistant TB. There is no systematically collected data on the type of evidence that is publicly available to guide the scale-up of these interventions in low- and middle-income countries. We investigated the availability of published evidence on their effectiveness, delivery, and cost-effectiveness that policy makers need for scaling-up these interventions at country level.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and several regional databases were searched for studies published from 1 January 1990 through 31 March 2012 that assessed health outcomes, delivery aspects, or cost-effectiveness for any of these interventions in low- or middle-income countries. Selected studies were evaluated for their objective(s), design, geographical and institutional setting, and generalizability. Studies reporting health outcomes were categorized as primarily addressing efficacy or effectiveness of the intervention. These criteria were used to draw landscapes of published research. We identified 59 studies on IPT in HIV infection, 14 on IPT in household contacts, 44 on rule-in diagnosis, 19 on rule-out diagnosis, and 72 on second-line treatment. Comparative effectiveness studies were relatively few (n = 9) and limited to South America and sub-Saharan Africa for IPT in HIV-infection, absent for IPT in household contacts, and rare for second-line treatment (n = 3). Evaluations of diagnostic and screening algorithms were more frequent (n = 19) but geographically clustered and mainly of non-comparative design. Fifty-four studies evaluated ways of delivering these interventions, and nine addressed their cost-effectiveness.<h4>Conclusions</h4>There are substantial gaps in published evidence for scale-up for five WHO-recommended TB interventions settings at country level, which for many countries possibly precludes program-wide implementation of these interventions. There is a strong need for rigorous operational research studies to be carried out in programmatic settings to inform on best use of existing and new interventions in TB control.
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spelling doaj-art-9b780ebe6cb640f0a0cc6ef83fb622002025-08-20T03:32:46ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Medicine1549-12771549-16762012-01-01912e100135810.1371/journal.pmed.1001358Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.Frank CobelensSanne van KampenEleanor OchodoRifat AtunChristian Lienhardt<h4>Background</h4>Several interventions for tuberculosis (TB) control have been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) over the past decade. These include isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) for HIV-infected individuals and household contacts of infectious TB patients, diagnostic algorithms for rule-in or rule-out of smear-negative pulmonary TB, and programmatic treatment for multidrug-resistant TB. There is no systematically collected data on the type of evidence that is publicly available to guide the scale-up of these interventions in low- and middle-income countries. We investigated the availability of published evidence on their effectiveness, delivery, and cost-effectiveness that policy makers need for scaling-up these interventions at country level.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and several regional databases were searched for studies published from 1 January 1990 through 31 March 2012 that assessed health outcomes, delivery aspects, or cost-effectiveness for any of these interventions in low- or middle-income countries. Selected studies were evaluated for their objective(s), design, geographical and institutional setting, and generalizability. Studies reporting health outcomes were categorized as primarily addressing efficacy or effectiveness of the intervention. These criteria were used to draw landscapes of published research. We identified 59 studies on IPT in HIV infection, 14 on IPT in household contacts, 44 on rule-in diagnosis, 19 on rule-out diagnosis, and 72 on second-line treatment. Comparative effectiveness studies were relatively few (n = 9) and limited to South America and sub-Saharan Africa for IPT in HIV-infection, absent for IPT in household contacts, and rare for second-line treatment (n = 3). Evaluations of diagnostic and screening algorithms were more frequent (n = 19) but geographically clustered and mainly of non-comparative design. Fifty-four studies evaluated ways of delivering these interventions, and nine addressed their cost-effectiveness.<h4>Conclusions</h4>There are substantial gaps in published evidence for scale-up for five WHO-recommended TB interventions settings at country level, which for many countries possibly precludes program-wide implementation of these interventions. There is a strong need for rigorous operational research studies to be carried out in programmatic settings to inform on best use of existing and new interventions in TB control.https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001358&type=printable
spellingShingle Frank Cobelens
Sanne van Kampen
Eleanor Ochodo
Rifat Atun
Christian Lienhardt
Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
PLoS Medicine
title Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
title_full Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
title_fullStr Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
title_full_unstemmed Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
title_short Research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.
title_sort research on implementation of interventions in tuberculosis control in low and middle income countries a systematic review
url https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001358&type=printable
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AT rifatatun researchonimplementationofinterventionsintuberculosiscontrolinlowandmiddleincomecountriesasystematicreview
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