1. Noncompliance with the world health organization-multidrug therapy among leprosy patients in Cebu, Philippines: its causes and implications on the leprosy control program.
- Author
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Honrado ER, Tallo V, Balis AC, Chan GP, and Cho SN
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Drug Therapy, Combination, Female, Humans, Leprosy psychology, Male, Middle Aged, National Health Programs organization & administration, Philippines epidemiology, Primary Prevention organization & administration, Risk Factors, Social Perception, Surveys and Questionnaires, World Health Organization, Attitude to Health, Leprostatic Agents therapeutic use, Leprosy drug therapy, Leprosy epidemiology, Rural Population statistics & numerical data, Treatment Refusal statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
The success of current World Health Organization (WHO) key strategy for leprosy elimination (ie, multidrug therapy [MDT] regimen) depends largely on the efficiency of health care delivery services and patient compliance. A high rate of noncompliance with this regimen has serious implications for the leprosy control program because it can set the stage for the emergence of drug resistance, eventually resulting in treatment failure and failure of the program. A community-based descriptive study using pretested interviews conducted in 12 leprosy endemic areas in Cebu, Philippines, showed that the noncompliance rate with the WHO-MDT regimen among 233 study subjects was 30%. The causes of noncompliance are drug-related, health care provider-triggered, or patient-inducted, or some combination of these. Recommendations on strategic interventions to obviate the cause for noncompliance are presented.
- Published
- 2008
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