January 13, 2011
The Question
What are the economic benefits of expanding the World Health Organization’s DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy, Short-Course) Strategy of treatment for patients with tuberculosis from 2006 to 2015?
What we found
Models suggest that continuing DOTS at its current level (Sustained DOTS) and expanding DOTS in the following years (Enhanced DOTS) will be significantly more cost-effective than the base case of never having implemented DOTS and never starting to treat patients with the DOTS strategy. Furthermore, there is moderate cost benefit to switching from Sustained DOTS to Enhanced DOTS.
Why it matters
The Enhanced DOTS Strategy was proposed in the Global Plan to Stop TB for 2006 – 2015 in response to problems such as drug resistance and HIV co-infection that have become increasingly serious since the inception of the DOTS program. The findings in this study suggest that moving to Enhanced DOTS will be worth the cost investment.
