Can tuberculosis patients in resource-constrained settings afford chest radiography?

Even when tuberculosis (TB) care is free, impoverished patients and their households continue to incur unmanageable costs due to seeking and staying in care for the full duration of anti-TB treatment [1]. By aggravating household vulnerability, these costs can prevent or delay diagnosis, treatment and successful outcome, leading to increased TB transmission, morbidity and mortality [2–4]. The new World Health Organization (WHO)'s End TB Strategy places greater emphasis on ensuring universal free access to care, and it includes a target of elimination of associated catastrophic costs for TB patients and their households by 2020 [5]. In many low- and middle-income countries chest radiographs are not free of charge for TB patients We would like to thank all the country experts that contributed information to this study. In addition, we would like to thank Andrew Codlin (Stop TB Partnership, Geneva, Switzerland) and Andrew Siroka (WHO/Global TB Programme, Geneva, Switzerland) for their help with providing contacts in countries.