12 Feb Nigeria: Janna Health Foundation screens for TB amongst football fans in Sardauna
[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_separator type=”normal” thickness=”2″ up=”20″ down=”20″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_gallery type=”nivo” interval=”3″ images=”2942,2943″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Sarduana is a Local Government Area (LGA) in Taraba State, Nigeria, with an estimated population of over 325’000. Its rugged terrain and hard to reach location (atop the Mambilla Plateau) make it especially difficult for residents to access TB and other health services. Sarduna has 98 public and private health facilities out of which only nine offer TB DOTS services and five provide TB diagnostic services, including only one equipped with GeneXpert technology.
Given the limited availability and accessibility of TB services, Janna Health Foundation (JHF) designed an active TB case-finding intervention. Since football is very popular among local youth, JHF funded a football tournament that ran for 3 months, during which they screened for TB among spectators. The targeted population were people between 15 and 45 years of age, who attended any of the organized football matches from September 1st to November 23rd, 2019.
Health officials and identified volunteers were trained to conduct verbal screening, identify people with presumptive TB, collect sputum samples and transport them to the GeneXpert diagnostic point. They were also able to create TB awareness messages in the local language. In order to better reach the community and ensure a favorable response, youth leaders were identified and actively involved in the intervention. Traditional leaders were also engaged to appoint town criers who mobilized people for each of the 23 football matches.
Sustained advocacy and sharing of results with the traditional and youth leaders throughout the project duration promoted their involvement and contributed to the intervention’s success.
A total of 31’500 persons (mostly youth) were verbally screened for TB, 1’421 (4.5%) people with presumptive TB were identified, 639 (45%) sputum samples were collected and tested using GeneXpert, out of which 41 all-forms TB were detected and notified (including 29 Bac+ TB cases). No Rifampicin resistant TB was found. In some cases, people with presumptive TB were actively referred to health facilities for further TB screening, diagnosis and treatment.
Following the encouraging response of the community and community leaders, JHF plans to continue to provide TB services to hard-to-reach settlements and key populations by organizing more sports tournaments on an annual basis. Additionally, the project team found that there were large numbers of displaced persons from the ongoing political crisis in Cameroon, who have taken refuge in Sardauna for now over two years. JHF has plans to set up a TB control intervention among this key population as well.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]