Effectiveness of the “Social Assistance and Information for TB Patients” Project in Abovyan, Armenia: a Pilot Study

Abstract

Executive summary Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the dangerous communicable diseases in the world and is a serious health and social problem for many countries, including Armenia. By the World Health Organization (WHO) estimations, around 75 new TB cases per 100, 000 population occur every year in Armenia. Socio-economic difficulties, poverty and migration contribute to scaling up the TB epidemics in the country. Among important issues that escalate the TB epidemic are low adherence of TB patients to prescribed treatment regimen as well as low awareness of TB patients and their families of TB related topics, such as TB modes of transmission, symptoms and preventive measures. To address treatment adherence and TB awareness related issues, Armenian Red Cross Society (ARCS) implemented the “Social assistance and information for TB patients” project from April 2006 to September 2006 in Abovyan city of Armenia. The main objectives of the project were to contribute to complete TB treatment, as well as to increase awareness of TB patients and their families on TB related issues. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the ARCS “Social assistance and information for TB patients” project on TB related knowledge and adherence to the prescribed treatment of the project participants. For this purpose, the project intervention group was compared with the comparison group - TB patients of Abovyan city who were not beneficiaries of the above-mentioned project. The study results showed that there was statistically significant difference in TB knowledge between the intervention and the comparison groups due to ARCS intervention. The difference in TB treatment completion between the two groups was 9.4%, which could have practical significance taking into account the magnitude of TB problem. Moreover, this study results showed that there was statistically significant association between TB treatment completion and TB related 4 knowledge in both study groups. This finding was consistent with previous studies that provided evidence on positive relationship between TB knowledge and treatment adherence. A significant limitation of this study was the small sample size, and consequently very low power. The study demonstrated the importance of including social-welfare and educational components in TB control and treatment programs. Implementation of similar projects in other provinces of Armenia would contribute to uninterrupted treatment, higher TB related knowledge and subsequently better treatment outcomes.