The private market for tuberculosis drugs
Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - 16:31
in Health & Medicine
Tuberculosis (TB) is widely considered a public health concern and its treatment a public sector responsibility. But according to a study published today in the journal PLoS ONE, the private sector for TB treatment is ignored at our peril. Across 10 high-burden countries, there is as much TB drug volume in the private sector as in the public sectorand at least a third of all private sector dosages of first-line TB drugs fall outside of national and international treatment recommendations. Any resulting drug misuse could be responsible for many treatment failures and for escalating the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), which is further worsening the TB epidemic.
