Quality of tuberculosis care in the private health sector

Abstract

As countries move towards achieving universal health coverage, efforts to engage all care providers have gained more significance. Over a third of people estimated to have developed TB in 2018 were not detected and notified by national TB programs (NTPs). This gap is more pronounced in countries with large private sectors, especially those with a high burden of TB. Health care providers outside the scope of NTPs, including the private and informal sector, are often the first point of care for TB patients. However, these providers are not fully engaged despite evidence from country experiences and projects that demonstrate increased detection and good treatment outcomes through publicprivate mix (PPM) approaches. While there are often concerns about quality of care in public facilities, there is also increasing evidence that quality of TB care in the private sector falls short of international standards in many places and urgently needs improvement. Failure to engage the full range of health care providers for TB has serious consequences in terms of access to quality care, resulting in increased transmission as a result of delayed diagnosis and treatment; excess mortality and morbidity as a result of inappropriate treatment; and increased drug resistance as a result of incomplete treatment. Recent attention to this issue has led to significant increases in private TB notifications, especially in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, but the gap between notification and the extension of quality program services for provision of treatment and care appears to be growing.

Keywords: Public-private mix; Quality care.

Fig. 1

TB notifications from private for-profit providers as a proportion of estimated TB incidence, 2013–2018, in selected high-burden countries with dominant private healthcare sectors Author analysis of NTP data, distinguishing notifications from for-profit providers from those of the non-profit sector to the extent possible.