The Union’s successful approach to improving TB services in the urban slums of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, will be replicated in 12 additional Ugandan cities, thanks to a Wave-4 TB REACH grant.
Since 2011, the Slum Partnerships to Actively Respond to Tuberculosis in Kampala (SPARK-TB) project has fostered ties between the public health sector and the private clinics located in Kampala’s slums. When the project started only six of the clinics serving this largely poor population offered TB services. Today 70 private clinics provide quality TB diagnosis and care with support from the project, and some 1,500 TB patients have been detected and started on treatment within two years.
In the initial phase, which was funded by a Wave-2 grant, The Union Uganda Office facilitated the initiation of the public-private partnerships and helped the new partners to collaborate successfully. The Union team also offered training to build the capacity of the clinics to provide TB diagnosis and treatment and established linkages between community health workers and the private clinics.
Under the Wave 4 TB REACH grant, The Union Uganda Office will scale up this intervention in the slums of Kampala and 12 additional large urban centres in the central and south-eastern regions of the county.
Funding for the Stop TB Partnership TB-REACH Initiative is provided by the Government of Canada and UNITAID.