ArticlePloS one2022
"I'm suffering for food": Food insecurity and access to social protection for TB patients and their households in Cape Town, South Africa.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effectiveness of nutritional support to improve treatment adherence in patients with tuberculosis: a systematic review.Nutrition reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Routine immunization uptake and timeliness in young children exposed to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: A secondary analysis of the Tuberculosis Child Multidrug-Resistant Preventive Therapy multi-site randomised controlled trial.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
- Multilevel Determinants of Tuberculosis Treatment Interruption in Rural South Africa: Insights from Primary Healthcare Nurses.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Quality of life among people with tuberculosis in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: a qualitative study.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
- Trends in Tuberculosis Incidence and Mortality in South Africa and Bulgaria (2000-2023): The Impact of Income, Poverty, Unemployment, and Universal Health Coverage.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social isolation, social exclusion, and access to mental and tangible resources: mapping the gendered impact of tuberculosis-related stigma among men and women living with tuberculosis in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.BMC global and public health · 2025Article
- Social determinants of tuberculosis in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a qualitative study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Identifying mechanisms by which social determinants of health impact TB diagnostic evaluation uptake in Uganda: a qualitative study.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Navigating DR-TB Treatment care: a qualitative exploration of barriers and facilitators to retention in care among people with history of early disengagement from drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment in Johannesburg, South Africa.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Integrated health checks as a person-centred approach to systematic screening of household tuberculosis contacts: A realist-informed mixed-methods study.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- The catastrophic cost of TB care: Understanding costs incurred by individuals undergoing TB care in low-, middle-, and high-income settings - A systematic review.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Lived experiences of persons on tuberculosis treatment in Nairobi County, Kenya: a mixed methods study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Factors associated with unfavourable treatment outcomes among tuberculosis patients at health facilities of Maseru, Lesotho.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2024Article
- Tuberculosis contact tracing, Angola.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2024Article
- Higher loss of livelihood and impoverishment in households affected by tuberculosis compared to non-tuberculosis affected households in Zimbabwe: A cross-sectional study.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Experiences of families living with tuberculosis patients in the North West province, South Africa.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2024Article
- Psychosocial experiences of adolescents with tuberculosis in Cape Town.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Socio-economic burden of TB and its impact on child contacts in The Gambia.Public health action · 2023Article
- Social protection as a right of people affected by tuberculosis: a scoping review and conceptual framework.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2023Article
- Use of a Sustainable Livelihood Framework-Based Measure to Estimate Socioeconomic Impact of Tuberculosis on Households.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a major health concern and the number one cause of death in South Africa. Social protection programmes can strengthen the resilience of TB patients, their families and households. This study aimed to get a better understanding of the role of social protection and other forms of support in relation to the burden of TB on patients and their households in South Africa.
methodsThis is a cross-sectional exploratory qualitative study using a phenomenological approach to focus on the lived experiences and perceptions of TB patients and healthcare workers. We interviewed 16 patients and six healthcare workers and analysed data thematically.
resultsThe challenges faced by participants were closely related to household challenges. Participants reported a heavy physical burden, aggravated by a lack of nutritious food and that households could not provide the food they needed. Some needed to resort to charity. At the same time, households were significantly affected by the burden of caring for the patient-and remained the main source of financial, emotional and physical support. Participants reported challenges and costs associated with the application process and high levels of discretion by the assessing doctor allowing doctors' opinions and beliefs to influence their assessment.
conclusionAccess to adequate nutritious food was a key issue for many patients and this need strained already stretched households and budgets. Few participants reported obtaining state social protection support during their illness, but many reported challenges and high costs of trying to access it. Further research should be conducted on support mechanisms and interventions for TB patients, but also their households, including food support, social protection and contact tracing. In deciding eligibility for grants, the situation of the household should be considered in addition to the individual patient.
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.