20 August 2018 | GENEVA - Stop TB Partnership launched today a new online and interactive platform as part of the Strategic Initiative to Find the Missing People with Tuberculosis (TB). The platform is available at http://stoptb-strategicinitiative.org/. The new interactive platform is part of joint efforts among Stop TB Partnership, The Global Fund to Fight, AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve TB case detection, notification and treatment. It is designed to display new information and learnings, experiences and best practices that implementers and partners acquire as they boost their efforts.
TB case finding implementers can showcase their efforts to a broader and global audience and learn from others in the "Updates from the Field" section. To further showcase their achievements, implementers can upload visual material themselves, such as photos or videos and schedule upcoming meetings on TB case finding under the section "News & Events."
The platform also provides detailed information about the Strategic Initiative and the innovative TB case finding approaches, which each of the priority countries are implementing. A country dashboard presents essential information about the TB burden, care and service delivery for each of the 13 priority countries. Complementing these exciting features, the platform also offers a wide range of learning resources, such as guidance documents on different components critical for improved TB case finding, along with publications and conference presentations.
Additionally, the Stop TB Partnership created a list of organizations engaged in TB case finding in the prioritized countries and regularly reaches out to them to obtain the latest updates of the progress they make. To be part of the list and share your work on the platform, please send an email to missingpeoplewithTB@stoptb.org.
Missing people with TB are individuals, especially vulnerable and underserved people, who are affected by TB but are either not diagnosed, treated or included in the public health reporting systems. Together they account for more than 4 million people globally. Of the people we miss, 75% of those with drug-sensitive TB live in 13 priority countries including Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, and Ukraine.
The Strategic Initiative is a focused effort to go beyond the "business as usual" approach to TB case finding. Traditional and mostly passive approaches to TB case finding are no longer enough to close the gap between the people with TB missed every year, and the number of people notified or reported to health systems and care providers worldwide. Under the Strategic Initiative, funded by the Global Fund, Stop TB Partnership and the World Health Organization (WHO), countries and partners are jointly aiming to reach an ambitious goal of finding an additional 1.5 million people with TB by the end of 2019 (baseline 2015).
Click now to see the latest updates on TB case finding efforts and share your experiences with the world!