Tuberculosis
Project HOPE helps countries fight the burdens of infectious diseases, focusing on TB and HIV/AIDS.
Tuberculosis is the world’s deadliest infectious killer. Every day, more than 4,000 people lose their lives to TB, and as many as 30,000 people develop the disease.
TB can infect anyone of any age, but the chance of developing TB is higher for those in close contact with TB patients, especially children, as well as people living with HIV. People with HIV are 20 times more likely to become ill with TB. Even with treatment, people coinfected with HIV and TB are three times more likely to die from TB.
In 2018, 10 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.5 million died of the disease, including 251,000 people with HIV. Almost all cases and deaths occur in the world’s poorest communities, where preventative treatment and quality care is often out of reach. Global efforts to prevent and control TB have saved 58 million lives over the past two decades, but 1 in 3 people with TB do not have access to affordable and quality health care needed to treat the disease.
Piloting an advocacy project for integrating mental health in TB services in Indonesia, Cambodia, and the Philippines
This activity will collaborate with Stop TB Partnership, HRH2030 programs, GFATM programs, TBPPM Learning Network, Global Fund Asia Pacific Network (GFAPN), and TB and mental health stakeholders to develop recommendations, training modules, and scaling up TB and Mental Health interventions.
Objectives:
2. Design an optimal technical framework that includes mental health management methods and techniques based on best available evidence-based practices to improve TB quality of care
3. Acquired evidence to inform national policies and guidelines for implementing and scaling up and implementing mental health care interventions within routine TB practices
Project HOPE’s History Fighting Tuberculosis
- Project HOPE has worked to fight TB since 1993. Our current programs align with achieving the Stop TB Partnership’s 90-(90)-90 targets to end the global burden of TB, and are focused on reaching high-risk populations in high burden countries across Asia and Africa.
- We improve case finding and adherence to treatment by facilitating outreach and establishing networks of friendly health services. Last year our community outreach on TB awareness reached 900,000 people across Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. In Uzbekistan alone, our work has helped decrease the number of TB cases by 23%.
- Improving access to diagnostics and treatment at the community level by increasing access to laboratories and establishing innovative methods for transporting sputum and results. In Kyrgyzstan, we deployed a low-cost private transport model that uses GPS tracking software and smartphones to safely deliver samples for testing. This work resulted in a 52% increase in TB samples after one year, and a five-fold increase in samples collected at primary health care facilities.
- We strengthen laboratories by rolling out new diagnostics like a molecular test called GeneXpert, implementing international quality assurance standards, and training laboratory workers. In Malawi, our introduction of GeneXpert machines increased the detection of TB cases in intervention districts by 21%.
- We support national tuberculosis programs to control drug resistant TB by conducting surveys, performing drug susceptibility testing, and implementing new state-of-the-art technology to improve case detection among people living with HIV. In Tajikistan, our efforts have helped strengthen adherence to treatment and reduce infection rates.
- We improve infection prevention and control at national and local levels by working with national tuberculosis programs to improve policies and train health workers in effective practices. Last year our work reached more than 62,300 people affected by TB, and helped nearly 18,000 people get tested for the disease.