[Brazilian National Registry of Healthcare Establishments as a tool for the analysis of decentralization of tuberculosis treatment to basic care services]. / Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde como ferramenta de análise da descentralização do atendimento da tuberculose para a atenção básica.

This study aimed to validate a method for classification of healthcare services in Brazil (basic care vs. other levels) and describe the decentralization of tuberculosis (TB) care to basic services (2002 to 2016). The healthcare services that reported and followed TB cases were classified as either "basic care" or "other levels" based on the type of establishment registered in the Brazilian National Registry of Healthcare Establishments (CNES, in Portuguese). The study estimated the agreement between this classification with a previous classification performed in 2013 by Brazil's state and local tuberculosis programs. Using the CNES registry, the authors then calculated the percentage of TB patients treated in basic care from 2002 to 2016. Agreement was 94.4%, and overall kappa index was 0.86. There was a relative increment of 31.2% in TB care provided by basic services (from 50.9% in 2002 to 66.8% in 2016). All regions of Brazil showed an increase in this percentage, except the South. The classification based on the CNES registry allowed analyzing the trend in decentralization of TB treatment to basic healthcare services in Brazil.

Os objetivos deste artigo foram validar um método de classificação dos serviços de saúde (atenção básica vs. outros níveis) e descrever a descentralização do atendimento da tuberculose (TB) para a atenção básica no Brasil no período de 2002 a 2016. Os serviços de saúde que notificaram e acompanharam pessoas com TB foram classificados como "atenção básica" ou "outros níveis", considerando-se o tipo de estabelecimento registrado no Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (CNES). Foi estimada a concordância entre essa classificação e uma realizada em 2013 pelos programas estaduais e municipais de TB. Posteriormente, utilizando-se o CNES, calculou-se o percentual de pessoas com TB atendidas na atenção básica no período de 2002 a 2016. A concordância foi de 94,4% e o índice kappa global foi 0,86. Houve um incremento relativo de 31,2% do atendimento de TB na atenção básica (50,9% em 2002 para 66,8% em 2016). Todas as regiões apresentaram aumento desse percentual, exceto a Região Sul. A classificação baseada no CNES permitiu analisar a evolução da descentralização do atendimento da TB para a atenção básica no Brasil.

Los objetivos de este artículo fueron validar un método de clasificación de los servicios de salud (atención básica vs. otros niveles) y describir la descentralización del cuidado de la tuberculosis (TB) hacia los servicios de atención básica en Brasil, durante el período de 2002 a 2016. Los servicios de salud que notificaron y efectuaron el seguimiento a personas con TB fueron clasificados como "atención básica" u "otros niveles", considerándose el tipo de establecimiento registrado en el Registro Nacional de Establecimientos de Salud (CNES). Se estimó la concordancia entre esta clasificación y una realizada en 2013 por los programas estatales y municipales de TB. Posteriormente, utilizando el CNES, se calculó el porcentaje de personas con TB atendidas en la atención básica durante el período de 2002 a 2016. La concordancia fue de 94,4% y el índice kappa global fue 0,86. Hubo un incremento relativo de un 31,2% del manejo de la TB en la atención básica (de un 50,9% en 2002 hasta un 66,8% en 2016). Todas las regiones presentaron un aumento de ese porcentaje, excepto la región Sur. La clasificación, basada en el CNES, permitió analizar la evolución de la descentralización del manejo de la TB hacia la atención básica en Brasil.

Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde como ferramenta de análise da descentralização do atendimento da tuberculose para a atenção básica / Brazilian National Registry of Healthcare Establishments as a tool for the analysis of decentralization of tuberculosis treatment to basic care services / Registro Nacional de Establecimientos de Salud como herramienta de análisis de la descentralización de la atención a la tuberculosis en la atención básica

Resumo: Os objetivos deste artigo foram validar um método de classificação dos serviços de saúde (atenção básica vs. outros níveis) e descrever a descentralização do atendimento da tuberculose (TB) para a atenção básica no Brasil no período de 2002 a 2016. Os serviços de saúde que notificaram e acompanharam pessoas com TB foram classificados como "atenção básica" ou "outros níveis", considerando-se o tipo de estabelecimento registrado no Cadastro Nacional de Estabelecimentos de Saúde (CNES). Foi estimada a concordância entre essa classificação e uma realizada em 2013 pelos programas estaduais e municipais de TB. Posteriormente, utilizando-se o CNES, calculou-se o percentual de pessoas com TB atendidas na atenção básica no período de 2002 a 2016. A concordância foi de 94,4% e o índice kappa global foi 0,86. Houve um incremento relativo de 31,2% do atendimento de TB na atenção básica (50,9% em 2002 para 66,8% em 2016). Todas as regiões apresentaram aumento desse percentual, exceto a Região Sul. A classificação baseada no CNES permitiu analisar a evolução da descentralização do atendimento da TB para a atenção básica no Brasil.

Abstract: This study aimed to validate a method for classification of healthcare services in Brazil (basic care vs. other levels) and describe the decentralization of tuberculosis (TB) care to basic services (2002 to 2016). The healthcare services that reported and followed TB cases were classified as either "basic care" or "other levels" based on the type of establishment registered in the Brazilian National Registry of Healthcare Establishments (CNES, in Portuguese). The study estimated the agreement between this classification with a previous classification performed in 2013 by Brazil's state and local tuberculosis programs. Using the CNES registry, the authors then calculated the percentage of TB patients treated in basic care from 2002 to 2016. Agreement was 94.4%, and overall kappa index was 0.86. There was a relative increment of 31.2% in TB care provided by basic services (from 50.9% in 2002 to 66.8% in 2016). All regions of Brazil showed an increase in this percentage, except the South. The classification based on the CNES registry allowed analyzing the trend in decentralization of TB treatment to basic healthcare services in Brazil.

Resumen: Los objetivos de este artículo fueron validar un método de clasificación de los servicios de salud (atención básica vs. otros niveles) y describir la descentralización del cuidado de la tuberculosis (TB) hacia los servicios de atención básica en Brasil, durante el período de 2002 a 2016. Los servicios de salud que notificaron y efectuaron el seguimiento a personas con TB fueron clasificados como "atención básica" u "otros niveles", considerándose el tipo de establecimiento registrado en el Registro Nacional de Establecimientos de Salud (CNES). Se estimó la concordancia entre esta clasificación y una realizada en 2013 por los programas estatales y municipales de TB. Posteriormente, utilizando el CNES, se calculó el porcentaje de personas con TB atendidas en la atención básica durante el período de 2002 a 2016. La concordancia fue de 94,4% y el índice kappa global fue 0,86. Hubo un incremento relativo de un 31,2% del manejo de la TB en la atención básica (de un 50,9% en 2002 hasta un 66,8% en 2016). Todas las regiones presentaron un aumento de ese porcentaje, excepto la región Sur. La clasificación, basada en el CNES, permitió analizar la evolución de la descentralización del manejo de la TB hacia la atención básica en Brasil.

Comparison of two cash transfer strategies to prevent catastrophic costs for poor tuberculosis-affected households in low- and middle-income countries: An economic modelling study.

BACKGROUND: Illness-related costs for patients with tuberculosis (TB) ≥20% of pre-illness annual household income predict adverse treatment outcomes and have been termed "catastrophic." Social protection initiatives, including cash transfers, are endorsed to help prevent catastrophic costs. With this aim, cash transfers may either be provided to defray TB-related costs of households with a confirmed TB diagnosis (termed a "TB-specific" approach); or to increase income of households with high TB risk to strengthen their economic resilience (termed a "TB-sensitive" approach). The impact of cash transfers provided with each of these approaches might vary. We undertook an economic modelling study from the patient perspective to compare the potential of these 2 cash transfer approaches to prevent catastrophic costs. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Model inputs for 7 low- and middle-income countries (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Mexico, Tanzania, and Yemen) were retrieved by literature review and included countries' mean patient TB-related costs, mean household income, mean cash transfers, and estimated TB-specific and TB-sensitive target populations. Analyses were completed for drug-susceptible (DS) TB-related costs in all 7 out of 7 countries, and additionally for drug-resistant (DR) TB-related costs in 1 of the 7 countries with available data. All cost data were reported in 2013 international dollars ($). The target population for TB-specific cash transfers was poor households with a confirmed TB diagnosis, and for TB-sensitive cash transfers was poor households already targeted by countries' established poverty-reduction cash transfer programme. Cash transfers offered in countries, unrelated to TB, ranged from $217 to $1,091/year/household. Before cash transfers, DS TB-related costs were catastrophic in 6 out of 7 countries. If cash transfers were provided with a TB-specific approach, alone they would be insufficient to prevent DS TB catastrophic costs in 4 out of 6 countries, and when increased enough to prevent DS TB catastrophic costs would require a budget between $3.8 million (95% CI: $3.8 million-$3.8 million) and $75 million (95% CI: $50 million-$100 million) per country. If instead cash transfers were provided with a TB-sensitive approach, alone they would be insufficient to prevent DS TB-related catastrophic costs in any of the 6 countries, and when increased enough to prevent DS TB catastrophic costs would require a budget between $298 million (95% CI: $219 million-$378 million) and $165,367 million (95% CI: $134,085 million-$196,425 million) per country. DR TB-related costs were catastrophic before and after TB-specific or TB-sensitive cash transfers in 1 out of 1 countries. Sensitivity analyses showed our findings to be robust to imputation of missing TB-related cost components, and use of 10% or 30% instead of 20% as the threshold for measuring catastrophic costs. Key limitations were using national average data and not considering other health and social benefits of cash transfers. CONCLUSIONS: A TB-sensitive cash transfer approach to increase all poor households' income may have broad benefits by reducing poverty, but is unlikely to be as effective or affordable for preventing TB catastrophic costs as a TB-specific cash transfer approach to defray TB-related costs only in poor households with a confirmed TB diagnosis. Preventing DR TB-related catastrophic costs will require considerable additional investment whether a TB-sensitive or a TB-specific cash transfer approach is used.

Effectiveness of a conditional cash transfer programme on TB cure rate: a retrospective cohort study in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Despite the efforts of the National Tuberculosis Programme, TB cure rates in Brazil are sub-optimal. The End TB Strategy for post-2015 identifies conditional cash transfer interventions as powerful tools to improve TB control indicators, including TB cure rate. This study aims to inform the new policy by evaluating the role of the Bolsa Familia Programme (BFP), one of the largest conditional cash transfer programmes in the world, on TB cure rates in Brazil. METHODS: We undertook a retrospective cohort study, based on an unprecedented record linkage of socioeconomic and health data, to compare cases of patients newly diagnosed with TB in 2010 receiving BFP cash benefits (n=5788) with those who did not (n=1467) during TB treatment. We used Poisson regression with robust variance to estimate the relative risks for TB cure adjusted for known confounders. RESULTS: The cure rate among patients exposed to BFP during TB treatment was 82.1% (4752/5788), 5.2% higher than among those not exposed. This was confirmed after controlling for TB type, diabetes mellitus, HIV status and other relevant clinical and socioeconomic covariates (RR=1.07, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.11 for cure rates among BFP beneficiaries). This association seemed higher for patients not under directly observed treatment (RR=1.11; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.16). CONCLUSIONS: Although further research is needed, this study suggests that conditional cash transfer programmes can contribute to improve TB cure rate in Brazil.

Developments in Impact Assessment of New Diagnostic Algorithms for Tuberculosis Control.

A modified presentation of the impact assessment framework is proposed that improves accessibility while continuing to provide a checklist of the evidence needed to support policy decisions on the implementation of new tools for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.

Towards tuberculosis elimination: an action framework for low-incidence countries.

This paper describes an action framework for countries with low tuberculosis (TB) incidence (<100 TB cases per million population) that are striving for TB elimination. The framework sets out priority interventions required for these countries to progress first towards "pre-elimination" (<10 cases per million) and eventually the elimination of TB as a public health problem (less than one case per million). TB epidemiology in most low-incidence countries is characterised by a low rate of transmission in the general population, occasional outbreaks, a majority of TB cases generated from progression of latent TB infection (LTBI) rather than local transmission, concentration to certain vulnerable and hard-to-reach risk groups, and challenges posed by cross-border migration. Common health system challenges are that political commitment, funding, clinical expertise and general awareness of TB diminishes as TB incidence falls. The framework presents a tailored response to these challenges, grouped into eight priority action areas: 1) ensure political commitment, funding and stewardship for planning and essential services; 2) address the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups; 3) address special needs of migrants and cross-border issues; 4) undertake screening for active TB and LTBI in TB contacts and selected high-risk groups, and provide appropriate treatment; 5) optimise the prevention and care of drug-resistant TB; 6) ensure continued surveillance, programme monitoring and evaluation and case-based data management; 7) invest in research and new tools; and 8) support global TB prevention, care and control. The overall approach needs to be multisectorial, focusing on equitable access to high-quality diagnosis and care, and on addressing the social determinants of TB. Because of increasing globalisation and population mobility, the response needs to have both national and global dimensions.

Estudo da distribuição da tuberculose (TB) nos Estados do Amazonas eRio Grande do Sul (2006 a 2009) / Study of the distribution of tuberculosis (TB) in the states of Amazonas and Rio Grande do Sul (2006-2009)

Estudo descritivo ecológico sobre a distribuição da tuberculose (TB) nos estados do Amazonas e Rio Grande do Sul, entre 2006 e 2009, realizado com informações do SINAN/SUS e IBGE. Observou-se aumento da TB com aumento da desigualdade da distribuição da renda na maioria dos municípios. A maior incidência de TB ocorreu na população com menos de oito anos de estudo e no grupo de 20 a 49 anos, seguido pelo de 65 anos e mais. Utilizando o método preditivo a partir da análise e regressão múltipla, obteve-se um modelo validado para o Rio Grande do Sul (R2=0,75), com associação da TB x escolaridade de primeira à quarta série incompleta (r=0,56) e faixa etária de 20 a 49 anos (r=0,85). No Amazonas os modelos não foram validados devido à variabilidade dos dados existentes. Demais variáveis ambientais, socioeconômicas e indicadores de saúde não permaneceram no modelo final, devido à correlação fraca com a variável dependente (incidência média de TB). O método apresentou-se como ferramenta adequada para indicar os principais fatores relacionados à doença TB.