Tuberculosis in Asia and the Pacific: the Role of Socioeconomic Status and Health System Development

Objective: to identify the relationship between socioeconomicstatus, health system development and the incidence, prevalenceand mortality of tuberculosis in asia and the pacific.methods: incidence, prevalence and mortality rates of tuberculosisand 20 variables of socioeconomic, health system and biological–behavioral issues were included in the study involving all46 countries of the asian development bank region (2007 data).both univariate and multivariate linear regressions were used.results: the worst three tuberculosis affected countries werecambodia, india and indonesia, while the least affected wasaustralia. tuberculosis incidence, prevalence and mortality ratewere higher in countries with lower human development index,corruption perception index, gross domestic product (gdp)per capita and countries with more people under minimum foodsupplements. among the health system variables, total healthexpenditure per capita, governmental health expenditure percapita, hospital beds, and access to improved water and sanitationwere strongly associated with tuberculosis.conclusions: socioeconomic determinants and health systemdevelopment have significant effect on the control of tuberculosisin asia and the pacific region. the study has some policyimplications by means of lowering the corruption and improvingthe sanitation.