Abstract :
Background: Non-governmental personnel such as Anganwadi workers, Asha workers and community volunteers have been used as directly observed treatment (DOT) providers in the revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), challenges faced by them were not addressed, which is important to improve their performance.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study conducted using semi structured questioner which contains Socio-demographic characteristics of the DOTS provider and the questions to evaluate the performance of DOTS provider, his role in treatment adherence and also the challenges faced by him/her. DOTS providers are traced by information obtained from DTC. Data will be entered and analysed in SPPSS version 16.0
Results: About 99% of DOTS providers have received training regarding TB and DOTS. About 70% believed that the reason of failure was due to incomplete treatment and 15% believed that the failure was due to incomplete treatment and failure of preventive measures. 98% of them trace the patients when they don’t come to take DOTS. About 91.1% of them had no history of TB in their families and 7.9% of them had a history of TB in their family. About 53.5% of DOTS provider handled the drug reaction. About 38.6% of them were cured and declared sputum negative. About 94.1% of them had no defaulters and 4% of them had one defaulter under them. About 11.9% of them had one relapse. About 93.1% of them had no failures, 5% of them had one failure and 1% of them had 2 failures. About 95% of them used counseling as an aid to motivate patients.
Conclusion: Educating and creating awareness regarding disease and its prevention plays a major role in reducing the burden if disease, addressing the barriers and difficulties of dots provider helps them to give better service and care to patients.
Keyword :
DOTS provider, Tuberculosis, MDR TB, Default, Relapse.