Pilot program in Tanzania to improve TB detection shows promise, IRIN reports

"A pilot community program to improve [tuberculosis (TB)] detection in northern Tanzania has shown good results and could be replicated nationwide as the country seeks to improve its TB treatment and prevention systems," IRIN reports. The program, run by Management Sciences for Health with help from PATH and Tanzania's National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme and financial support from USAID, "emphasized that TB and HIV treatment must be done 'hand in hand,'" according to IRIN.

The program used community outreach and education, as well as a system to track health referrals at 12 health facilities in northern Tanzania's Arusha and Meru districts, the news service notes. "An evaluation comparing six months of TB case notification before and after the project showed a 54 percent increase in detection of TB in all forms in Meru, while in Arusha it increased by 117 percent," IRIN writes (2/1).