Compared to the previous year, in 2017, TB case detection rates in the eight Union-supported provinces increased by 17 percent compared to 13 percent in the rest of the country. The outreach efforts have resulted in TB diagnoses of 47,697 patients in 2017 – a 39 percent increase from 2014 when The Union began its work. In provinces not covered by The Union, an increase of 26 percent was recorded.
The Union-led Challenge TB project conducts active searches for people with TB within high-risk communities, with a focus on people living with HIV, miners and those living in prisons (communities where rates of TB are higher than average), and children under the age of five years.
The Union DR Congo Office implements these efforts through a locally owned approach that engages four local NGOs and eight provincial TB coordination centres, accounting for more than 30 percent of the country’s population. The local organisations work as partners to carry out outreach activities, TB awareness programmes, contact investigation and the transportation of sputum samples.
The Union and partners also coordinate with clinics in the private sector to improve TB screening and diagnosis through technical assistance, financial support and staff training to staff, and connect them to the NTP.
Challenge TB is funded by USAID with The Union as lead partner in DR Congo.
DR CONGO IS ONE OF THE 30 HIGH BURDEN COUNTRIES FOR TB, MDR-TB AND TB-HIV
In the eight provinces where The Union is working, there are an estimated 39,000 people with TB who go undiagnosed. In 2017, The Union facilitated TB screening for 174,317 people in those provinces.