Material incentives and enablers in the management of tuberculosis

Material incentives for improving patient adherence to tuberculosis diagnosis, prophylaxis, and treatment

Elizabeth E Lutge1,*, Charles Shey Wiysonge2, Stephen E Knight3, Jimmy Volmink4,5

1 Health Systems Trust, Research Programme, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
2 University of Cape Town, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine & School of Child and Adolescent Health, Observatory, South Africa
3 Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Department of Public Health Medicine, Congella, South Africa
4 Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tygerberg, South Africa
5 Medical Research Council of South Africa, South African Cochrane Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

Lutge EE, Wiysonge CS, Knight SE, Volmink J. Material incentives and enablers in the management of tuberculosis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2012, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD007952.

To read the full review please follow this link:  DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007952.pub2.  

Patients do not always follow the advice of health care providers if being investigated or treated for tuberculosis. Material incentives (such as cash, vouchers and tokens) may encourage them to return for the results of tests or to take prescribed treatments. This review, which analysed the results of 11 randomized controlled trials, concluded that material incentives do increase the number of patients (in certain marginalized subpopulations, mostly men) who return to the clinic to receive their test results for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, and the number of patients who go to the clinic to start treatment for tuberculosis. There was no evidence to show that incentives increase the number of patients who complete treatment for latent or active tuberculosis.