Last month, TDR showcased its influential activities to potential collaborators and partners at The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2024. This forum is the premier event where international experts, decision-makers and frontline workers gather to share their work and discuss new strategies to improve TB diagnosis and management.
Addressing disability, comorbidities and risk determinants in TB patients in four African countries
A workshop on “Building capacity for real-time operational research: experiences from Asia and Africa” brought together more than 200 participants. TDR and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported one of the sessions, which focused on disability, comorbidities and risk determinants at the start and completion of TB treatment in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The session emphasized the urgent need to strengthen national capacity for disability assessment and comorbidity management among TB patients, leveraging real-time implementation research to inform policy in these countries.
Two publications in a recent issue of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) address this topic:
- Comprehensive care for people affected by TB: addressing TB-associated disabilities
- Prevalence, incidence and determinants of QuantiFERON positivity in South African schoolchildren
Participants in the workshop on “Building capacity for real-time operational research: experiences from Asia and Africa.”
Closing the gap in TB detection among children
Diagnosing TB in children is a significant challenge, particularly in resource-limited countries. The TDA4Child initiative, a close collaboration between TDR and WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme (GTB), aims to harmonize research efforts to externally validate the treatment-decision algorithms (TDAs) from the 2022 operational handbook on managing TB in children and adolescents. These TDAs, based on clinical criteria, TB lab tests, and chest X-rays when available, are being evaluated by national TB programmes (NTPs) to determine their performance in improving TB detection in children in their settings.
TDR is providing technical support to NTP focal persons from Burkina Faso (Dr Adama Diallo), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Dr Bibiche Kadima), Nigeria (Dr Urhioke Ochuko) and Uganda (Dr Stavia Turyahabwe) to customize the research package to their needs, and to conduct the implementation research study. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is funding the project in Burkina Faso, and USAID is supporting the latter three.
All four focal persons provided updates on their progress during a GTB meeting on progress and harmonization. Preliminary results were presented by Burkina Faso and Nigeria at a symposium organized by GTB on “Validation of treatment decision algorithms for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB in children,” which included presenters from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Decide-TB consortium. Dr Corinne Merle of TDR chaired this session as the lead of the TDA4Child generic research package. Dr Ochuko also presented Nigeria's preliminary results in the short oral session “Finding the Missing Children with TB and the Care Cascade.”
Panel discussion of the symposium on "Validation of treatment-decision algorithms for the diagnosic of pulmonary TB in children." From left to right: Dr Urhioke Ochuko (NTP Nigeria), Dr Helena Huerga (MSF Epicentre), Chishala Chabala (Lusaka, Zambia), Dr Corinne Merle (TDR), Dr Adama Diallo (NTP Burkina Faso), Dr Sabine Verkuijl (WHO GTB), Dr Marieke Van Der Zalm (Decide-TB). Credit: TDR / Emmanuelle Papot
An implementation research toolkit for supporting the evaluation of social protection schemes for people affected by TB
Social protection is paramount to ensure the success of TB treatment. TDR scientist Dr Vanessa Veronese introduced a new toolkit designed to help national TB programmes (NTPs) implement and evaluate social protection programmes for people affected by TB. The goal is to ensure these programmes effectively support TB patients by addressing their social and economic needs.
This toolkit offers practical advice on evaluating social protection programmes using a simplified research method. It helps assess the impact of these programmes on TB prevention and care, as well as their implementation and social and economic outcomes. The results can identify areas needing improvement and provide evidence to advocate for better social protection schemes for TB patients.
Dr Vanessa Veronese presenting the implementation research toolkit on evaluating social protection programmes for people affected by TB. Credit: TDR / Emmanuelle Papot
The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2024 provided a valuable platform for the TDR team to engage with the global TB community, share the innovative research it is supporting and forge new partnerships to advance the fight against TB.
For more information, please contact Dr Rony Zachariah, Dr Corinne Merle or Dr Vanessa Veronese.