Post-trial perceptions of a symptom-based TB screening intervention in South Africa: implementation insights and future directions for TB preventive healthcare services

Community views on active case finding for tuberculosis in low- and middle-income countries: a qualitative evidence synthesis

BACKGROUND

Active case finding (ACF) refers to the systematic identification of people with tuberculosis in communities and amongst populations who do not present to health facilities, through approaches such as door-to-door screening or contact tracing. ACF may improve access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment for the poor and for people remote from diagnostic and treatment facilities. As a result, ACF may also reduce onward transmission. However, there is a need to understand how these programmes are experienced by communities in order to design appropriate services.

OBJECTIVES

To synthesize community views on tuberculosis active case finding (ACF) programmes in low- and middle-income countries.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and eight other databases up to 22 June 2023, together with reference checking, citation searching, and contact with study authors to identify additional studies. We did not include grey literature.

SELECTION CRITERIA

This review synthesized qualitative research and mixed-methods studies with separate qualitative data. Eligible studies explored community experiences, perceptions, or attitudes towards ACF programmes for tuberculosis in any endemic low- or middle-income country, with no time restrictions.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Due to the large volume of studies identified, we chose to sample studies that had 'thick' description and that investigated key subgroups of children and refugees. We followed standard Cochrane methods for study description and appraisal of methodological limitations. We conducted thematic synthesis and developed codes inductively using ATLAS.ti software. We examined codes for underlying ideas, connections, and interpretations and, from this, generated analytical themes. We assessed the confidence in the findings using the GRADE-CERQual approach, and produced a conceptual model to display how the different findings interact.

MAIN RESULTS

We included 45 studies in this synthesis, and sampled 20. The studies covered a broad range of World Health Organization (WHO) regions (Africa, South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, and the Americas) and explored the views and experiences of community members, community health workers, and clinical staff in low- and middle-income countries endemic for tuberculosis. The following five themes emerged. • ACF improves access to diagnosis for many, but does little to help communities on the edge. Tuberculosis ACF and contact tracing improve access to health services for people with worse health and fewer resources (High confidence). ACF helps to find this population, exposed to deprived living conditions, but is not sensitive to additional dimensions of their plight (High confidence) and out-of-pocket costs necessary to continue care (High confidence). Finally, migration and difficult geography further reduce communities' access to ACF (High confidence). • People are afraid of diagnosis and its impact. Some community members find screening frightening. It exposes them to discrimination along distinct pathways (isolation from their families and wider community, lost employment and housing). HIV stigma compounds tuberculosis stigma and heightens vulnerability to discrimination along these same pathways (High confidence). Consequently, community members may refuse to participate in screening, contact tracing, and treatment (High confidence). In addition, people with tuberculosis reported their emotional turmoil upon diagnosis, as they anticipated intense treatment regimens and the prospect of living with a serious illness (High confidence). • Screening is undermined by weak health infrastructure. In many settings, a lack of resources results in weak services in competition with other disease control programmes (Moderate confidence). In this context of low investment, people face repeated tests and clinic visits, wasted time, and fraught social interaction with health providers (Moderate confidence). ACF can create expectations for follow-up health care that it cannot deliver (High confidence). Finally, community education improves awareness of tuberculosis in some settings, but lack of full information impacts community members, parents, and health workers, and sometimes leads to harm for children (High confidence). • Health workers are an undervalued but important part of ACF. ACF can feel difficult for health workers in the context of a poorly resourced health system and with people who may not wish to be identified. In addition, the evidence suggests health workers are poorly protected against tuberculosis and fear they or their families might become infected (Moderate confidence). However, they appear to be central to programme success, as the humanity they offer often acts as a driving force for retaining people with tuberculosis in care (Moderate confidence). • Local leadership is necessary but not sufficient for ensuring appropriate programmes. Local leadership creates an intrinsic motivation for communities to value health services (High confidence). However, local leadership cannot guarantee the success of ACF and contact tracing programmes. It is important to balance professional authority with local knowledge and rapport (High confidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Tuberculosis active case finding (ACF) and contact tracing bring a diagnostic service to people who may otherwise not receive it, such as those who are well or without symptoms and those who are sick but who have fewer resources and live further from health facilities. However, capturing these 'missing cases' may in itself be insufficient without appropriate health system strengthening to retain people in care. People who receive a tuberculosis diagnosis must contend with a complex and unsustainable cascade of care, and this affects their perception of ACF and their decision to engage with it.

Pragmatic cluster-randomized trial of home-based preventive treatment for TB in Ethiopia and South Africa (CHIP-TB)

BACKGROUND

Each year, 1 million children develop TB resulting in over 200,000 child deaths. TB preventive treatment (TPT) is highly effective in preventing TB but remains poorly implemented for household child contacts. Home-based child contact management and TPT services may improve access to care. In this study, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of home-based contact management with TPT initiation in two TB high-burden African countries, Ethiopia and South Africa.

METHODS

This pragmatic cluster randomized trial compares home-based versus facility-based care delivery models for contact management. Thirty-six clinics with decentralized TB services (18 in Ethiopia and 18 in South Africa) were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to conduct either home-based or facility-based contact management. The study will attempt to enroll all eligible close child contacts of infectious drug-sensitive TB index patients diagnosed and treated for TB by one of the study clinics. Child TB contact management, including contact tracing, child evaluation, and TPT initiation and follow-up, will take place in the child's home for the intervention arm and at the clinic for the control arm. The primary outcome is the cluster-level ratio of the number of household child contacts less than 15 years of age in Ethiopia and less than 5 years of age in South Africa initiated on TPT per index patient, comparing the intervention to the control arm. Secondary outcomes include child contact identification and the TB prevention continuum of care. Other implementation outcomes include acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, cost, and cost-effectiveness of the intervention.

DISCUSSION

This implementation research trial will determine whether home-based contact management identifies and initiates more household child contacts on TPT than facility-based contact management.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT04369326 . Registered on April 30, 2020.

Priority Activities in Child and Adolescent Tuberculosis to Close the Policy-Practice Gap in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Over the past 15 years, and despite many difficulties, significant progress has been made to advance child and adolescent tuberculosis (TB) care. Despite increasing availability of safe and effective treatment and prevention options, TB remains a global health priority as a major cause of child and adolescent morbidity and mortality—over one and a half million children and adolescents develop TB each year. A history of the global public health perspective on child and adolescent TB is followed by 12 narratives detailing challenges and progress in 19 TB endemic low and middle-income countries. Overarching challenges include: under-detection and under-reporting of child and adolescent TB; poor implementation and reporting of contact investigation and TB preventive treatment services; the need for health systems strengthening to deliver effective, decentralized services; and lack of integration between TB programs and child health services. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant negative impact on case detection and treatment outcomes. Child and adolescent TB working groups can address country-specific challenges to close the policy–practice gaps by developing and supporting decentral ized models of care, strengthening clinical and laboratory diagnosis, including of multidrug-resistant TB, providing recommended options for treatment of disease and infection, and forging strong collaborations across relevant health sectors.