COXBOX: An Affordable Medicine Dispenser for Overcoming Non-adherence [Accepted for joint funding by USAID / Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for prototype development and pilot testing under The Grand Challenges in TB Control programme] TB is a major public health problem in India, causing an estimated loss of 100 million workdays and incurring a huge cost (US$ 3 billion in indirect costs and US$ 300 million in direct costs). Moreover, poor adherence to anti-tubercular treatment increases the risk of drug resistance, treatment failures, relapses, deaths and prolonged infectiousness. Such non-adherence is more prevalent in rural / backward and tribal populations, where the commonest reason for default is inability to attend the DOTS centres due to other commitments (e.g. fear of wage loss or need to support other members). A semi-automated electro-mechanical medicine dispenser has been conceptualized that can (a) dispense not only usual pills but also able to dispense medicine strips as required by the national TB control programme, (b) generate alarms at the time of scheduled doses, as well as (c) send SMS-based alerts to concerned care provider in case of non-adherence. This dispenser can hold a month’s supply, so that patients will attend the DOTS centre only once a month; thus it can improve treatment adherence by solving – (a) travel-related issues (travel time, road conditions, cost), (b) economic issues (wage loss, indirect costs for attendance to DOTS centres), and (c) social issues (more time for self / family / other activities; reduction of stigma). Moreover, it will be cheap on large-scale use, portable and will require minimal training for its use.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 22:43:20 +0000
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