Publications

    Rosenberg J, Rhatigan J, Kim JY. The Peruvian National Tuberculosis Control Program. Harvard Business Publishing. 2011.Abstract

    This case examines effective public health management strategies by examining the turnaround of National Tuberculosis (TB) Control Program (NTP) in Peru during the 1990s under Director Dr. Pedro Suarez. The case presents background information on the NTP before 1990 and situates its underperformance within the political and economic context of Peru at this time. It describes how Suarez transformed the NTP from an essentially bankrupt program in August 1990 to a model program, using effective management techniques. It concludes with the program struggling to improve outcomes among a group of patients failing its standardized protocols.

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing.

    Health Center in Peru
    Health center in Peru; Credit: Julie Rosenberg Talbot

    Learning Objectives: To understand the operations of a national tuberculosis control program and to learn how effective management techniques can be employed in public health programs to improve performance with an emphasis on basic principles of quality improvement.

    Keywords: Program management, leadership, vertical programming, public health, tuberculosis control

    Rosenberg J, Rhatigan J. Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment in Peru. Harvard Business Publishing. 2011.Abstract

    This case traces the development of a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment program in Peru between 1994 and 1999 by Socios en Salud (SES), a community-based nonprofit organization, in a shantytown of Northern Lima called Carabayllo. After providing some background on existing TB treatment services and the organizational history of SES, it follows the organization up to 1999 and frames its work within the context of international MDR-TB policy. The case presents background information on the epidemiology of TB and MDR-TB in Peru as well as the shantytown of Carabayllo. It describes how SES implemented community-based treatment for cadre of patients with MDR-TB and achieved cure rates comparable with those obtained in the US. The case begins with a vignette that illuminates the problem of MDR-TB from a patient’s perspective and ends with the program needing to strategize about how to scale-up and expand its reach to more patients.

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing.

    Outdoor sputum collection booth to prevent TB transmission in (MOH) national hospital in northern shantytown of Peru
    Outdoor sputum collection booth to prevent TB transmission in (MOH) national hospital in northern shantytown of Peru; Credit: Julie Rosenberg Talbot

    Learning Objectives: To understand strategies that innovative programs use to improve access to health care and to explore ways that community health workers can deliver complex medical interventions within well-designed public health programs.

    Keywords: Community health workers, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis treatment, policy change, advocacy