Costs of tuberculosis for households and health care providers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

OBJECTIVE To assess the costs of tuberculosis at household level in Dar es Salaam and to compare them with the provider costs of the national tubercul osis control programme. DESIGN Tuberculosis patients were found by active case searching within a r outine census in three areas of Dar es Salaam, and by examining records for residents already receiving treatment. Costs at household level were evalu ated through a cross-sectional household survey. RESULTS One hundred and ninety-one tuberculosis cases were included in the survey. With treatment periods of 8 to 12 months, extrapolated average cost s of a period of illness to patients and their families were as follows: US $2 for examination and laboratory costs, between US $17 and US $50 for con sultation and drugs, less than US $1 for hospitalization and between US $13 and US $20 for transport. The analysis revealed high costs due to inabilit y to work, ranging from US $154 to US $1384. These data were compared with the operation costs of the tuberculosis programme and proved to comprise 68 % to 94% of total costs. CONCLUSIONS For patients and their families, tuberculosis implies three mai n types of cost: drugs, transportation and, most importantly, financial los s due to inability to work. They represent around two thirds of total cost and are a high economic burden for households, in particular those with a l ow-income. While assessing tuberculosis control strategies such as direct c ase finding at home, it is therefore important to also include costs incurr ed at household level.