Together with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Stop TB Partnership has released a practical guide on the Implementation of Simultaneous Diagnostic Testing for COVID-19 and TB in High TB Burden Countries.
This guide provides various scenarios to be considered in order to increase access to testing for COVID-19 and TB using a simultaneous testing strategy that incorporates WHO-recommended nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for TB and antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) and NAATs for COVID-19.
The document outlines the steps required to implement simultaneous testing, including designing a screening and diagnostic testing algorithm, developing a laboratory network that is able to support the use of the algorithm, and building the laboratory capacity and human resources required to conduct the tests.