Abstract
BackgroundA drug resistance survey is an essential public health management tool for evaluating and improving the performance of National Tuberculosis control programmes. The current manuscript describes the implementation of the first national drug resistance survey in Tanzania.MethodsDescription of the implementation process of a national anti-tuberculosis drug resistance survey in Tanzania, in relation to the study protocol and Standard Operating Procedures.ResultsFactors contributing positively to the implementation of the survey were a continuous commitment of the key stakeholders, the existence of a well organized National Tuberculosis Programme, and a detailed design of cluster-specific arrangements for rapid sputum transportation. Factors contributing negatively to the implementation were a long delay between training and actual survey activities, limited monitoring of activities, and an unclear design of the data capture forms leading to difficulties in form-filling.ConclusionCareful preparation of the survey, timing of planned activities, a strong emphasis on data capture tools and data management, and timely supervision are essential for a proper implementation of a national drug resistance survey.
Highlights
A drug resistance survey is an essential public health management tool for evaluating and improving the performance of National Tuberculosis control programmes
Study population and sample size The drug resistance survey (DRS) is implemented in 40 diagnostic centres which were sampled proportional to patient load from all diagnostic centres notifying TB cases to the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme (NTLP)
It can be seen that factors related to infrastructure, personnel, finance, and time all played a crucial role in the long duration of the DRS from initiation to analysis
Summary
A drug resistance survey is an essential public health management tool for evaluating and improving the performance of National Tuberculosis control programmes. Drug resistance can occur due to inadequate management of treatment or transmission of drug resistant strains. In 2006, nearly 500,000 new MDR-TB patients were identified worldwide[1]. Treatment of these patients is feasible (page number not for citation purposes). Given the underlying causes of drug resistance, information on TB drug resistance levels is an essential public health management tool for evaluating and improving the performance of the National TB control Programmes (NTPs), and indicates the difficulties which NTPs will encounter when administering chemotherapy[1,3,4]
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