HOW can doctors ensure patients take their medicine? Simple, give them a reward.
Tuberculosis patients must complete a six-month course of medication or risk boosting the spread of drug-resistant strains. Healthcare workers are assigned to ensure patients follow their regimen, but this is expensive.
A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have come up with a cheaper solution that they believe will be more reliable. Each day, patients take a urine test using filter paper produced by a timed-release dispenser. The paper reacts to metabolites of the TB drug isoniazid. If the metabolites are present, the filter paper displays a code which the patient texts directly to a database. Those who miss fewer than five of their pills each month receive free call time for their cellphones.
Advertisement
