The first OneStopTB clinic truck has arrived at Zambart House in Lusaka, Zambia. The truck is an all-in-one diagnostic, testing and treatment centre, designed to be taken into remote and difficult-to-reach areas.
The first OneStopTB clinic truck has arrived at Zambart House in Lusaka, Zambia. The truck is an all-in-one diagnostic, testing and treatment centre, designed to be taken into remote and difficult-to-reach areas.
The OneStopTB truck will be used during the TREATS prevalence survey in the eight PopART selected communities to screen and test a total of 32,000 participants for tuberculosis (TB). During field data collection, the mobile clinic will be stationed in each of the communities for three months.
Jeanette Hedstrom, TREATS Study Administrator, said: “Its arrival immediately drew everyone’s attention and the excitement was palpable at finally receiving the truck.”
The mobile clinic contains a built-in state of the art automated digital x-ray, which provides participants with results within two seconds, as well as a laboratory fitted with a GeneXpert machine, used to detect mycobacterial tuberculosis within two hours.
Jeanette added: “Colleagues from Delft, KNCV and HST were all present during the arrival and were just as excited to see the OneStopTB platform mobile clinic.”
A core team has been recruited to undertake the community screenings and tests in the mobile clinic, including: a team leader, radiographer, laboratory technician, data officer and a driver.
The TREATS prevalence survey is now preparing for the arrival of the second OneStopTB clinic truck, which is expected to arrive in Lusaka soon.
TREATS -- Tuberculosis Reduction through Expanded Antiretroviral Treatment and Screening for active TB -- has been set up by a consortium of organisations, including The Union, that is already running the largest ever trial of a combination HIV prevention strategy. This trial, called HPTN071, or PopART, is being conducted across 21 communities in Zambia and South Africa, covering around one million people in total. PopART involves universal testing and treatment for HIV through house-to-house visits across the 21 communities on an annual basis over four years. As part of PopART, all members of these communities are also screened for TB.
Building on PopART, TREATS will measure the impact of a combined TB-HIV intervention – of population level active case-finding for TB, combined with universal testing and treatment for HIV – on TB incidence, prevalence and incidence of infection. Find out more.