Barriers to initiating tuberculosis treatment in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review focused on children and youth.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) is the deadliest infectious disease globally, with 10.4 million people infected and more than 1.8 million deaths in 2015. TB is a preventable, treatable, and curable disease, yet there are numerous barriers to initiating treatment. These barriers to treatment are exacerbated in low-resource settings and may be compounded by factors related to childhood.

Objective

Timely initiation of tuberculosis (TB) treatment is critical to reducing disease transmission and improving patient outcomes. The aim of this paper is to describe patient- and system-level barriers to TB treatment initiation specifically for children and youth in sub-Saharan Africa through systematic review of the literature.

Design

This review was conducted in October 2015 in acc

SUBMITTER: Sullivan BJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5496082 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature