Tuberculosis

High TB incidence persists in Eastern Cape, South Africa due to poor implementation of robust TB programs.

Tuberculosis in South Africa

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading infectious disease killer globally despite the availability of robust diagnostics, effective prevention, and treatment. Poor implementation of comprehensive TB programs and HIV infection remain drivers of ongoing high TB rates in high burden countries such as South Africa. In South Africa there are many losses in the TB care cascade; an estimated 95% of individuals with TB access testing, yet only 82% are diagnosed, 70% initiate treatment, and 53% successfully complete treatment. However, it is also imperative to screen and treat subclinical TB infection to lessen the vast reservoir of people at risk of progressing to TB disease, especially recent contacts of TB patients and people living with HIV. Therefore, we aim to test the effectiveness of SAIA-TB across 12 clinics to optimize comprehensive TB care, primarily the uptake of TB screening, TB preventive therapy, and TB treatment.