 |
| |
Research |
|
|
|
|
Reducing TB Incidence through Incentivized Case-Finding Networks: Modeling and Evaluation of a TB Detection Program in Bihar, India |
|
Listen to what the team aims and expects of their research project
 Scott Kennedy |
|
Abstract
With an estimated prevalence of nearly 5 million tuberculosis (TB) cases to which more than 3 million are added each year, the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) bears more than one-third of the global burden of (TB). India alone accounts for an estimated one fifth (21%) of all TB cases worldwide. Detection of new cases is far behind the World Health Organization’s target of universal access, with only 2 out of 3 cases notified to TB programs in the SEAR. A promising, yet untapped, intervention is offering grassroots health workers incentives for finding cases of TB. The Indian NTP, the largest in SEAR, offers no such incentives, partly because policymakers have no framework to evaluate the cost and benefits. Such evaluation is hindered by the complexity of referral networks that would utilize either fixed or dynamic incentives in the context of an evolving epidemiological pattern of disease. Through a detailed case study of an active TB referral and treatment program in Bihar, India and through the construction of a system dynamics model to test variations in incentives and program design, this project intends to create a framework and tool for evaluating the efficacy and cost of incentivized referral networks for TB case detection. Ultimately, the project should contribute to the introduction of rational incentive policies for case-finding at the national and regional level. Such policies will play a crucial role in extending coverage to 1 million additional cases in SEA region every year, many currently without affordable, high quality care. |
|
|
Team Members |
 |
Scott Kennedy
Associate Professor, Engineering Systems and Management
Associate Dean for Research
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology
Abu Dhabi, UAE |
|
 |
Anthony T H Chin
Associate Professor
Department of Economics, National University of Singapore
Singapore |
|
 |
Manish Bhardwaj
CEO
Innovators in Health,
Cambridge, MA |
|
