The Union, in collaboration with the national tuberculosis programme (NTP) and a local non-governmental organisation, built the tuberculosis (TB) care and prevention capacity in Kenya.
From 2016 to 2021, majority of the TB coordinators across the country were trained in a standardised approach to TB care.
The Kenya Division of National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Lung Disease Program, Centre for Health Solutions – Kenya and The Union trained a staggering:
- 96% of the TB coordinators (331 out of 344), representing all 47 counties
- 37 national officers
- 21 other stakeholders
The collaboration came about due to the devolution of healthcare services in Kenya, which resulted in a large number of newly recruited TB coordinators.
The collaboration developed and conducted a series of 7-day training courses, with a key focus of the training being the introduction of TBData4Action, an approach involving the local use of routinely available data to strengthen decision-making and support supervision in TB care and prevention.
Dr Riitta Dlodlo, Union collaboration lead and Senior Advisor at The Union, said: “This was such a unique collaboration and a joy to have been a part of. We worked closely together to deliver a curriculum that was tailored to the needs of the Kenyan healthcare system and TB coordinators.”
The country-tailored curriculum, including hands-on group work by county teams and field practicals, was found to be feasible and the model could be adapted by other NTPs.
Riitta added: “It was vital that we made sure the capacity building in local data use was sustainable. We were able to identify and mentor 35 national facilitators as local faculty, so they could deliver the training.”
The results of the collaboration, published in The Union’s Public Health Action, showed that training costs were reduced by 75% compared with international alternatives.
