CLA Enabled Finding Missing People with TB in Urban Slums of Addis Ababa

Ethiopia is among the 30 high tuberculosis (TB) and TB/HIV burden countries in the world. TB claims the lives of around 19,000 Ethiopians a year and based on the program estimation, the country misses more than one-fourth (28%) of people with TB. Lacking access to treatment, these people suffer and die from the disease, as well as spread the bacteria to close contacts. The scenario is predominant in cities like Addis Ababa, which has a greater proportion of key populations at risk of TB and with low health-seeking behavior due to lack or inconvenience of access related to their economic deprivation.

USAID Urban TB Local Organization Network project, through REACH Ethiopia, embedded a CLA approach in the organization's system to notify missing people with TB and link them to treatment so that death from curable disease (Tuberculosis) is minimized and spread of infection is prevented. The project collaborated with Addis Ababa Regional Health Bureau and identified a resource, which has been idle for more than a year, as an input for TB case notification. A van equipped with TB diagnostic materials was donated by another partner but ceased to function when the Bureau couldn't afford the running cost it required. Through collaboration, the project facilitated resuming operation of the van, and 85 TB cases were detected and linked to treatment. This result prevented a potential of more than one thousand people from being infected with TB.