Pretreatment Out-of-Pocket Costs for People with Drug-resistant Tuberculosis in Bandung, Indonesia

This project investigates the financial burden faced by people with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in West Java, Indonesia, with a focus on pretreatment out-of-pocket (OOP) direct costs. Previous studies have shown that people with TB (PWTB) spent an incremental cost during pretreatment phase. This financial burden is supposed to be greater among people with DR-TB, as despite the National TB Program (NTP) had provided access to diagnosis and treatment, people with presumptive DR-TB still experience complex care pathways, which lead to higher out-of-pocket costs. Therefore, we aim to measure pretreatment direct costs and identify the factors associated with higher costs, to help inform policies that can alleviate financial burden and improve DR-TB diagnosis and treatment initiation.