“Kill-TB” Drug Reminder Mobile Application for Tuberculosis Patients at Bengaluru, India: Effectiveness and Challenges

Background: Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in India. Newer digital technologies for treatment adherence have been tested for diseases with chronic medication. A mobile application (Kill-TB) that provides reminder to TB patients through alarm was tested for its effectiveness and challenges under programmatic settings. Methods: A cohort of TB patients initiated on treatment with and without mobile application at Bangalore city during January-March 2019 was observed for missed doses during their treatment period. Results: A total of 694 patients (347 patients with and without mobile application) were enrolled for the study. Among the patients with and without mobile application 1) loss to follow-up was 2% and 8%, 2) non-adherence rate to TB treatment was 1.5 and 3.3 per 100 person-months, 3) treatment success rate was 89% and 81%. Conclusion: The TB drug reminder mobile application benefits the patient’s treatment adherence and paves way for improved treatment outcomes despite the challenges in implementation. The programme should leverage mobile technologies as an additional monitoring tool to achieve the target of End-TB by 2025.