Exploring Problematizations Underlying Tuberculosis Control Strategies: A Cross-Country Analysis of India and Kenya

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Exploring Problematizations Underlying Tuberculosis Control Strategies: A Cross-Country Analysis of India and Kenya

Author : Dr Sapna Mishra

Year : 2023

Publisher : Springer Nature

Source Title : Integrated Science

Document Type :

Abstract

This chapter explores the evolutionEvolution of tuberculosis (TB) control strategies of two lower-middle-income economies—India and Kenya—which are counted among the leading thirty countries with the high-TB burden. We have also examined how the ‘problem of TB’ is characterized within the national policyPolicies documents of these nationsNation using a specific approach to policyPoliciesanalysis, namely ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be’ (WPR)What’s the Problem Represented to BeWPR. TheWPRWhat’s the Problem Represented to Be results of our analysis indicate that the underlying problematizationProblematization of TB control in the global initiatives appeared to be largely techno-managerial in the beginning with a focus on health systemSystemhealth strengthening, ensuring early case detectionDetection and cure. While a paradigm shift could be observed with the changing discourse around health propelled by the Commission of Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) reportCommission of Social Determinants of HealthCSDH, the same was not reflected in the context of TB control. This could be because TB control was predominantly being problematized within a disease-centered paradigm instead of a health promotion one. Both nationsNation have been committed to achieving the SDG goal of ending the TB epidemic by 2030. However, the strategies of both nationsNation continue to rely heavily on biomedical approaches over initiatives focused on the social determinantsDeterminantsocial of TB. High povertyPovertylevel, under-nutritionNutrition, and inequalitiesInequalities persisting in both settings mandate a paradigmatic shift in problematizationProblematization and approach, with a TB control strategy that is primarily driven by action on structural determinantsDeterminantStructural influencing health with the techno-managerial solutionsSolution assuming only a supplementary role. ProblematizationsProblematization underlying tuberculosis control strategies in India and Kenya ProblematizationsProblematization underlying tuberculosis control strategies in India and Kenya