In 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared tuberculosis (TB) a global emergency and introduced the Directly Observed Therapy Short Course (DOTS) strategy, built around five key components: government commitment, case detection via sputum smear microscopy, a standardized 6–8 month treatment regimen, a robust recording and reporting system, and an uninterrupted supply of essential TB drugs, with Directly Observed Treatment (DOT) as its cornerstone. DOT, involving healthcare providers or community representatives overseeing patients taking their medications, was designed to ensure adherence, provide social protection,1 prevent drug resistance, and reduce transmission.
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Barreto‐Duarte et al. (2025) studied this question.
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