The World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Programme is pleased to share its first report of country case studies on programmatic innovations that are being implemented to overcome challenges in tuberculosis (TB) prevention and care, created or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This new report demonstrates how countries, partners and communities are successfully innovating to adapt to the constraints of the pandemic including through the use of digital technologies for screening, contact investigation, and for supporting people affected with TB or TB/ COVID-19 with counselling and socio-economic support.

Others have adapted to real-time monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to help estimate the progression of the TB epidemic during the pandemic; and yet others are creating better models of public-private sector alliances and community engagement to deal with the dual threats of COVID-19 and TB.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted access to essential TB services and its impact threatens to reverse gains, with 1.4 million fewer people estimated to have received TB care in 2020 than in 2019, leading to half a million additional TB deaths,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme “Our best chance in overcoming these challenges is by embracing progressive and innovative approaches that TB programmes in different contexts can adapt to, and where appropriate, leverage the COVID-19 response, to deliver better care for people with TB.”

WHO launched a call for these case studies in late 2020, with the aim of collecting and disseminating best practices, new knowledge and lessons from successful programmatic innovations with countries and the TB community to effectively address the adverse impacts of the pandemic, and to urgently improve TB service delivery.

Between November 2020 and February 2021, a total of 23 case studies relevant to the call were accepted from 19 countries in the six regions of WHO, which are summarized in the present report. This fits into ongoing efforts by WHO's Global TB Programme to develop a compendium of resources on TB and COVID-19. WHO will continue accepting case studies through a web based survey, with a view to publish a follow-up report later in the year.

Please consult the WHO TB/COVID-19 Information Note for more details on COVID-19 considerations for TB care. The note has been updated in May 2021, with revised sections and references on testing, COVID-19 treatment and vaccination.

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Original link to the article: - https://www.who.int/news/item/20-05-2021-programmatic-innovations-to-address-challenges-in-tuberculosis-prevention-and-care-during-the-covid-19-pandemic