DRUG ACCEPTABILITY IN DOMICILIARY TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL PROGRAMMES: WHO TUBERCULOSIS CHEMOTHERAPY CENTRE, NAIROBI

The extent to which the self-administration of drugs is achieved under the conditions of treatment supervision available in economically under-developed countries is of crucial importance in tuberculosis control. This is a problem not only in regard to the treatment of patients suffering from active disease; it is one that is relevant, too, to the whole question of the prophylactic administration of drugs to tuberculosis contacts and to tuberculosis suspects.In this study an attempt has been made, by means of tablet counting and urine examination, to assess the extent and regularity of drug-taking over a period of one year among 87 tuberculosis patients, 478 tuberculosis household contacts and 181 tuberculosis suspects in East Africa.The results of this assessment indicate that the level of drug acceptability in all three groups was low, and it is suggested that such a level is not peculiar to the groups in this study, but is probably representative of most groups receiving antituberculosis chemotherapy under conditions of limited supervision of drug-taking.