Govt launches nationwide initiative to eliminate Tuberculosis

The government and Makerere University researchers are set to roll out a nationwide initiative to eliminate Tuberculosis (TB) across 34 districts, leveraging digital tools and integrated healthcare services to enhance detection, treatment, and prevention.

The initiative, spearheaded by the Re-Imaging TB care (RTC) program, supported by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), will study the effectiveness of digital interventions in a randomized exercise.

Prof. Noah Kiwanuka, leading the RTC initiative, announced the commencement of this crucial phase in Kampala. He emphasized the program's vision to revolutionize "when, where, and how healthcare services are accessed and delivered for TB and other respiratory-based illnesses in TB-affected countries."

The randomized exercise will divide the participating districts into two arms: 17 will adopt electronic data capture for streamlined operations, while the remaining 17 will continue with standard paper-based methods.

Dr. Achilles Katamba, who led the investigation, highlighted that the insights gathered revealed a strong desire for integrated healthcare services, bringing TB care closer to the people.

"We have come to integrate these different tools so that when you collect the sample from a patient in the community using the DEX system, using barcoding and that sample, you can capture all the information for that particular patient at that level," explained Dr. Katamba.

The digital infrastructure will feed into an electronic-based surveillance system at healthcare facilities, significantly improving follow-up care for patients. Dr. Katamba also revealed the integration of artificial intelligence in the form of chatbots, which can answer questions about TB transmission via WhatsApp voice typing.

Representing the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Charles Olaro, Dr. Stavia Turyahabwe urged District Health Officers to embrace the integration of Artificial Intelligence in the fight against TB transmission. "Digitizing our systems is key to improve the processes we go through, but also facilitating faster initiation of treatment," affirmed Dr. Olaro.

The goal is to define "how acceptable and the cost of using that method so that feedback is generated to the ministry and to scale up the appropriate method," emphasized Dr. Katamba. District health officials, including Mr. Collins Ainomugisha from Sheema district and Mr. Richard Luvaluka from Jinja City, welcomed the initiative, anticipating a significant impact on TB burden in their regions.

By 2030, the Ministry of Health aims to see TB, malaria, and HIV no longer pose a public health threat by concentrating on serving people at the household level.