RESEARCH ARTICLE Tuberculosis treatment dis

Tuberculosis (TB) represents a major global health bur-den of particular concern given its growing resistance to available drugs. India bears the world’s largest TB bur-den with 3,000,000 cases in 2009 [1]. India’s substantial efforts to address TB through its public healthcare system have led to declines in TB prevalence and inci-dence [2]. More recently, India’s public healthcare sys-tem has also increased its efforts to address the emergence of multidrug resistant (MDR) TB (MDR is defined as TB resistant to at least rifampicin and isoniazid) [1,3-7]. Premature TB treatment discontinuation (i.e., default) hampers TB control efforts. Early discontinuation im-plies exposure to TB drugs for durations insufficient t