Tremendous efforts have been made on tuber-culosis control mince the national
tuberculosis control program was initiated. Mass screening, improvement of diagnostic
skills, clinical effort for before chemotherapy, and free distribution of tuberculosis drugs
through Governmented Health Centers have all been instituted. Such kinds of endeavor
have, of course, played an important Tole in the tuberculosis control program.
However, if patients do not have sufficient knowledge about disease transmission, how
long medicine has to be taken, and how to be treated optimally, control of tuberculosis
will be much less effective and much more difficult.
Through this survey, it was recognized that more than half of the registered patients
were not receiving optimal treatment, though no one reason for defaulting was
significant. Lack of a sympathetic attitude at treatment institutuions and the failure to
provide adequate information may account fort the knowledge of tuberculosis being poor
as expected. However, the ability to pay for treatment, as repealed by the surrey, was
higher than expected. Therefore the survey serried a dual purpose: to research
defaulters' knowledge and attitude, and to home visit, educate, and motivate proper
tuberculosis treatment.
「The facts that people dread tuberculosis and are misinformed about tuberculosis
have such a poor record of staying on treatment long enough to realize should be a
90% or higher recovery rate. The authors suggest that people
1) dread tuberculosis,
2) haute misinformation and lack good information on tuberculosis,
3) have a very poor record for continuing treatment long enough to realize That could
be a 90% or higher cure rate,
4) knave enough money to pay for the best tuberculosis treatment, especially with
Health Center aid, and
5) medicine and physicians are widely available all over the country.
It would seem to the authors that a tuberculosis information campaign is needed more
than any other single measure.
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