José A Caminero1, Nils E Billo. 1. International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD), Paris, France. jcamlun@gobiernodecanarias.org
Abstract
SETTING: Private practitioners including chest physicians are often an important obstacle to having a successful National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) in low- and middle-income countries. This complicated situation has been present in most of the Latin American countries for many years. OBJECTIVE: To design an intervention model to obtain collaboration and integration of specialist physicians in the actions of the NTP. DESIGN: In 1998, the IUATLD designed a special interactive model of training courses, to be held in an important number of Latin American countries. This intensive (25h in 3 days) course was named "Importance of the role of chest physicians and their integration in NTP strategies". At the end of each course, the participants were invited to sign a series of agreements concerning controversial topics that had blocked collaboration in the past. RESULTS: This course, adapted to the situation of the different countries, has been held 17 times in 9 different countries. So far, nearly 600 specialist physicians have been trained with this special model, and all of them have signed important agreements on future collaboration. CONCLUSION: There has been an important improvement in integrating these specialist physicians into the actions of the NTPs. This intervention has contributed to a substantial improvement of tuberculosis control in the last 4 years in Latin America.
SETTING: Private practitioners including chest physicians are often an important obstacle to having a successful National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) in low- and middle-income countries. This complicated situation has been present in most of the Latin American countries for many years. OBJECTIVE: To design an intervention model to obtain collaboration and integration of specialist physicians in the actions of the NTP. DESIGN: In 1998, the IUATLD designed a special interactive model of training courses, to be held in an important number of Latin American countries. This intensive (25h in 3 days) course was named "Importance of the role of chest physicians and their integration in NTP strategies". At the end of each course, the participants were invited to sign a series of agreements concerning controversial topics that had blocked collaboration in the past. RESULTS: This course, adapted to the situation of the different countries, has been held 17 times in 9 different countries. So far, nearly 600 specialist physicians have been trained with this special model, and all of them have signed important agreements on future collaboration. CONCLUSION: There has been an important improvement in integrating these specialist physicians into the actions of the NTPs. This intervention has contributed to a substantial improvement of tuberculosis control in the last 4 years in Latin America.
Authors: Ari Probandari; Lars Lindholm; Hans Stenlund; Adi Utarini; Anna-Karin Hurtig Journal: BMC Health Serv Res Date: 2010-05-07 Impact factor: 2.655