The social determinants of tuberculosis treatment adherence in a remote region of Papua New Guinea
Diefenbach-Elstob, Tanya, Plummer, David, Dowi, Robert, Wamagi, Sinba, Gula, Bisato, Siwaeya, Keyanato, Pelowa, Daniel, Siba, Peter, and Warner, Jeffrey (2017) The social determinants of tuberculosis treatment adherence in a remote region of Papua New Guinea. BMC Public Health, 17. 70. pp. 1-12.
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Abstract
Background: Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a diverse and culturally-rich country with severe infrastructural and health problems. Tuberculosis (TB) is widespread, and the number of cases with drug resistance is rising. Treatment adherence is known to be important for both effective treatment and limiting the emergence of drug resistance. The aim of this study was to construct a matrix of the factors that act as facilitators or barriers to TB treatment adherence in a remote region of PNG.
Methods: The study was based in the Balimo region of the Western Province. People known to have undergone TB treatment, as well as staff involved in managing people with TB, were asked to participate in an in-depth interview about their experiences. Purposive sampling was used to identify a diverse range of participants, from different geographic locations, social backgrounds, and with successful and unsuccessful treatment outcomes. The interview data was analysed based on grounded theory methodology.
Results: The study identified a range of factors that influence TB treatment adherence, with these being classified as personal, systems, and sociocultural. These factors are presented along with suggested recommendations for adaptations to DOTS-based treatment in this region. Barriers included the challenges associated with travel to treatment sites, and the difficulties of undertaking treatment alongside the daily need to maintain subsistence food production. However, facilitators were also identified, including the positive influence of religious beliefs, and high confidence in the ability of DOTS-based treatment to cure TB.
Conclusions: Documenting the wide range of factors that influence treatment adherence in a severely affected remote population will assist in improving TB control. These results provide impetus for further community-based efforts aimed at improving access to TB diagnosis and treatment, and maintaining successful treatment outcomes in the face of emerging drug resistance.
| Item ID: | 48530 |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1471-2458 |
| Keywords: | tuberculosis, Papua New Guinea, treatment adherence, DOTS, remote health, subsistence, witchcraft |
| Additional Information: | © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
| Date Deposited: | 03 May 2017 23:44 |
| FoR Codes: | 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3207 Medical microbiology > 320701 Medical bacteriology @ 100% |
| SEO Codes: | 92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920499 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
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