Monitoring Tuberculosis (TB) Treatment Adherence Using eCompliance Digital Tool by Community Healthcare Workers

Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis kills over one million people yearly. TB diagnosis and treatment are complicated, and hence innovative diagnostic and treatment adherence monitoring tools are important. In this chapter, the application of innovative model of TB detection, linkage to care, and monitoring the adherence to treatment regimen using the India-made digital technology created by Operation ASHA (eCompliance) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is described. The holistic approach showed to be successful in increasing TB case detection yield by 36%, strengthened linkage to care, and led to 98% treatment adherence in terms of doses taken among enrolled patients who stayed throughout the study. The use of digital technology proved feasible in the setting with little training, and support has been well accepted by patients and healthcare providers including community healthcare workers with no prior knowledge of digital adherence tools.