99DOTS - TB Directly Observed Therapy

Hey, since we’re going so far in on 2 way texting, I think we should look at programs like 99DOTS!

Basically, it’s a TB medication adherence program that gives patients medications in blister packs. When you pop open the blister pack, there’s a number that gets revealed, and the patient needs to send a text message to that number. If they miss too many days in a row, a health worker is sent to follow up on them.

Despite the obvious ways the system can be abused, it’s apparently worked out fairly well. I think even in absence of the ability to create the drug blister packs, there’s a lot we can do to explore the feasibility of TB treatment adherence workflows

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Indeed. 99 DOTS has been effectively used in India and gives a very high success rate in TB Treatment and follow up. This method has been effective in reducing the lost to follow up cases where TB patients are lost or missed in middle of TB Treatment.

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