ArticleBMC infectious diseases2019
Tuberculosis treatment in the private healthcare sector in India: an analysis of recent trends and volumes using drug sales data.
Article in BMC infectious diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Barriers to engagement in the care cascade for tuberculosis disease in India: A systematic review of quantitative studies.PLoS medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Cough syrup buyers get referred but not tested: private pharmacy-based tuberculosis surveillance pilot in Jaipur, India.Public health action · 2026Article
- Reimagining tuberculosis elimination in India: diagnostics, drug resistance, and digital health strategies.Frontiers in epidemiology · 2026Review
- Can high private cough syrup sales act as a proxy for missed TB notifications in TB surveillance?Public health action · 2025Article
- Comparative analysis of tuberculosis drug consumption data in public and private sectors across selected districts of Madhya Pradesh.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- New Drug Expenditure by Therapeutic Area in South Korea: International Comparison and Policy Implications.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Enhancing tuberculosis case notifications through mapping sales of medicine in the private sector: a quasi-experimental study in Punjab province, Pakistan.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Policy gaps in addressing market failures and intervention misalignments in tuberculosis control: prospects for improvement in China, India, and Indonesia.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2024Review
- Article
- Free drug provision for tuberculosis increases patient follow-ups and successful treatment outcomes in the Indian private sector: a quasi experimental study using propensity score matching.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Do private providers initiate anti-tuberculosis therapy on the basis of chest radiographs? A standardised patient study in urban India.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2023Article
- Engaging the Private Health Service Delivery Sector for TB Care in India-Miles to Go!Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Review
- Quantifying antibiotic use in typhoid fever in India: a cross-sectional analysis of private sector medical audit data, 2013-2015.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Tuberculosis diagnosis and management in the public versus private sector: a standardised patients study in Mumbai, India.BMJ global health · 2022Article
- Status and challenges for tuberculosis control in India - Stakeholders' perspective.The Indian journal of tuberculosis · 2021Article
- How much do Indians pay for tuberculosis treatment? A cost analysis.Public health action · 2020Article
- Tracking total spending on tuberculosis by source and function in 135 low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17: a financial modelling study.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2020Article
- Accelerating progress towards ending tuberculosis in India.The Indian journal of medical research · 2020Article
- Innovations triggered by India's bold vision to end tuberculosis.The Indian journal of medical researchArticle
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
14 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is a pressing need for systematic approaches for monitoring how much TB treatment is ongoing in the private sector in India: both to cast light on the true scale of the problem, and to help monitor the progress of interventions currently being planned to address this problem.
methodsWe used commercially available data on the sales of rifampicin-containing drugs in the private sector, adjusted for data coverage and indication of use. We examined temporal, statewise trends in volumes (patient-months) of TB treatment from 2013 to 2016. We additionally analysed the proportion of drugs that were sold in combination packaging (designed to simplify TB treatment), or as loose pills.
resultsDrug sales suggest a steady trend of TB treatment dispensed by the private sector, from 18.4 million patient-months (95% CI 17.3-20.5) in 2013 to 16.8 patient-months (95% CI 15.5-19.0) in 2016. Overall, seven of 29 states in India accounted for more than 70% of national-level TB treatment volumes, including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. The overwhelming majority of TB treatment was dispensed not as loose pills, but in combination packaging with other TB drugs, accounting for over 96% of private sector TB treatment in 2017.
conclusionsOur findings suggest consistent levels of TB treatment in the private sector over the past 4 years, while highlighting specific states that should be prioritized for intervention. Drug sales data can be helpful for monitoring a system as large, disorganised and opaque as India's private sector.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.