20 Apr Field-based technical assistance for Strategic Initiative – Kenya
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Technical assistance meetings were held in three cities in Kenya, supported by the Global Fund through Amref Health Africa.
In Mombasa, the importance of referring patients and samples to health facilities for diagnosis was discussed. In order to strengthen TB screening and linkages, it was decided that information, education and communication materials should be better disseminated to let people know where TB screening services are offered for free.
In Kibra, Nairobi, the technical assistance team looked at the process that clients go through from screening to linkage to care and addressed the gap of poor care-seeking behavior and low TB risk perception.
In partnership with the national tuberculosis program, Sema Ltd. has implemented automated TB self-screening machines at high traffic locations near government offices so that people seeking government services can self-screen for TB on an ATM-like screen as they wait. Community health workers are present on-site to refer patients and samples to nearby health facilities for TB diagnosis.
In Makueni, the Makueni County Referral Hospital received technical assistance to improve facility-based TB active case finding (ACF) and pay-for-performance (P4P) initiatives. Linkage officers identify and refer those with a cough to the lab for Xpert testing and ensure patients diagnosed with TB are linked to TB clinics for treatment. Plans were made to scale up pediatric TB screening and diagnosis by building capacity of community health workers to diagnose childhood TB.
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