Tuberculosis kills over a million people each year, mostly in developing countries, where poor public health systems hamper efforts to diagnose and treat it. But NGOs are now embracing new mobile health technologies that could help fight the disease more efficiently and cost-effectively.
As one of the world’s deadliest communicable diseases, TB presents a massive public health challenge. Due to the high costs of fighting it in places with weak institutions and infrastructure, the WHO reports a $2 billion annual funding shortfall for TB prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. And as the disease festers in densely populated cities and remote areas, new antibiotic-resistant strains are gaining strength. It’s not implausible that one of these strains could morph into a superbug that causes the next big global pandemic.
To be sure, extensive work by The Global Fund, the World Health Organization, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and other large organizations are making a big difference. Worldwide incidence of TB declined at a rate of 1.5% each year between 2000 and 2013, according to the WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report in 2014.
Yet further progress will require expensive efforts in low-resource settings where administering drugs and monitoring compliance can be a logistical nightmare. Most normal cases of TB require patients to take six months of antibiotics on a daily basis. Adherence to this regimen will usually cure the patient, but missing doses or failing to complete the regimen exposes the patient to treatment failure. It also allows TB bacteria in their bodies to develop into multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which is substantially more difficult and costly to treat.
To work around this challenge, many budget-strapped NGOs have turned to mobile tech for health worker education, field management, data collection, patient tracking, and improved diagnostics.
The Results Japan Kenya Office, a Nairobi-based NGO, has joined hands with the Kangemi TB Centre to take up a door-to-door campaign and screen slum residents to curb tuberculosis. The organisation hopes to spread awareness about TB especially the stigma associated with it.
While the plan is to reach out to slums in urban areas across the city, special attention will be paid to neighbourhoods in Kangemi. The incidence of the disease in some pockets is a cause for concern.
According to Edwin Shikanda, The head of the Kangemi Health Centre, the stigma associated with the disease prevents some people from talking about it, and at times, from seeking treatment. "There are areas where we found the incidence very high. Since this is a door-to-door screening, community and religious leaders will be part of it. These people will counsel residents about the need to be aware of the disease and seek medical attention," he said.
The NGO, which recently conducted a health survey of residents in Kangemi, has started training more volunteers who will collect sputum samples from residents, teach them basic hygiene, and conduct awareness campaigns in the slums.
"We have seen that people who have been diagnosed with TB, abandon treatment midway for a variety of reasons. The idea is to encourage them to continue the treatment," Lilian Njoroge, the head of the CHVs said.
RESULTS Japan Volunteers first collect sputum samples from people and send them for microscopic analysis. People whose samples show TB positive, will be asked to take up treatment. Those whose samples yield a negative result will be encouraged to get an XRay done. The NGO help desks at government area hospital will provide assistance required to other patients as well.
Over the last one year, the NGO has renovated the facility, trained hundreds of locals on how to act on TB, and facilitated free treatment of TB patients.
