Cost of Tuberculosis Treatment of Patients attending NTC, Nepal

Tuberculosis is one of the deadliest and most disabling diseases in the world. It is ranked seventh as cause of death worldwide and one of the common causes of death among young adults. It is a disease mostly affecting population with limited resources and restricted access of health services in LMICS like Nepal. TB patients face a number of barriers in seeking diagnosis and treatment including financial costs. These barriers cause delay in seeking health care, resulting to severity of diseases and high economic burden to the patients. The issues regarding the economic burden are rarely the subject matter of concern although TB being the P1 program of Nepal. So, the biggest question arise is to what extent the individual and government are being able to address the hidden issues about the direct costs and factors contributing to the expenditure of TB diagnosis.