Through the Challenge TB project, launched March 2017 in Myanmar, The Union is working to bolster and empower community-led TB efforts while providing technical assistance to the National TB Programme (NTP).
The project aims to double case detection rates and to achieve and maintain a treatment success rate of above 85 percent by the programme’s end in September 2018. Activities focus around active case finding through a trained network of volunteers and community healthcare workers to improve coverage and patient access. The Union also works with NTP staff to improve active case finding through contact tracing and to ensure HIV testing and counselling is provided to all TB patients in the treatment centres.
The Union is leading implementation, in collaboration with a network of community health workers and volunteers in eight townships in Myanmar’s remote northern region of Sagaing, where healthcare services are insufficient and hard to reach.
Challenge TB is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented in Myanmar by a partnership between The Union and FHI 360, in collaboration with the NTP / Township Public Health Department and community volunteers.
THE UNION’S TB PROGRAMMES IN MYANMAR
43,000
People screened and referred for testing
240,000
Health information talks on TB and HIV facilitated
4,000
Patients diagnosed and connected with treatment
1.6M
People reached through an active case finding project