Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Sep 21;13(3):97-103.
doi: 10.5588/pha.23.0015.

TB programme stakeholder views on lessons from the COVID-19 response in South Africa

H Myburgh  1   2   3 , S-A Meehan  1 , D T Wademan  1 , M Osman  1   4 , A C Hesseling  1 , G Hoddinott  1
Affiliations

TB programme stakeholder views on lessons from the COVID-19 response in South Africa

H Myburgh et al. Public Health Action. .

Abstract
in English, French

Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic has reversed many of the hard-won gains made in TB programmes and the associated reduction in the number of TB deaths, case notifications and incidence over the last three decades. Modelling estimates show that the impact will be lasting. There are global calls to recover the shortfalls along the TB care cascade that have resulted from COVID-19, with the recognition that the COVID-19 response holds lessons to inform more robust and comprehensive TB programmes and services.

Objective: To explore lessons from response measures to the COVID-19 pandemic in two high TB burden South African provinces.

Design: This was an exploratory qualitative study. We conducted interviews with TB programme stakeholders (managers and facility-level staff: n = 35) between February and June 2022.

Results: We identified eight facilitators of the COVID-19 response, including political will, rapid policy development, multi-sectoral collaboration, patient-centred models of care delivery, community engagement, mHealth and telehealth technologies, rigorous contact tracing and widespread mask wearing. Political will was singled out as a critical driver of the response.

Conclusion: Leveraging COVID-19 inspired collaborations, technologies and avenues for health service delivery is an opportunity to maximise benefits for the TB programme. Reinvestment in national TB programmes and political prioritisation of TB are critical.

Contexte: La pandémie mondiale de COVID-19 a réduit à néant une grande partie des gains durement acquis dans les programmes de lutte contre la TB et la réduction associée du nombre de décès dus à la TB, de notifications de cas et d’incidence au cours des trois dernières décennies. Les estimations de la modélisation montrent que l’impact sera durable. Des appels ont été lancés au niveau mondial pour combler les lacunes dans la chaîne de soins de la TB qui ont résulté de la pandémie de COVID-19, en reconnaissant que la réponse à cette pandémie est porteuse d’enseignements qui permettront d’élaborer des programmes et des services de lutte contre la TB plus solides et plus complets.

Objectif: Etudier les enseignements tirés des mesures prises en réponse à la pandémie de COVID-19 dans deux provinces sud-africaines à forte charge de morbidité TB.

Méthode: Il s’agit d’une étude qualitative exploratoire. Nous avons mené des entretiens avec les parties prenantes des programmes de lutte contre la TB (responsables et personnel au niveau des établissements : n = 35) entre février et juin 2022.

Résultats: Nous avons identifié huit facilitateurs de la riposte au COVID-19, notamment la volonté politique, l’élaboration rapide de directives, la collaboration multisectorielle, les modèles de prestation de soins centrés sur le patient, l’engagement communautaire, les technologies de mHealth et de télésanté, la recherche rigoureuse des contacts et le port généralisé de masques. La volonté politique a été désignée comme un moteur essentiel de la riposte.

Conclusion: L’exploitation des collaborations, des technologies et des moyens inspirés du COVID-19 pour la prestation de services de santé est une occasion de maximiser les avantages pour le programme de lutte contre la TB. Il est essentiel de réinvestir dans les programmes nationaux de lutte contre la TB et d’en faire une priorité politique.

Keywords: TB control; political will; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE
FIGURE
Facilitators of the speed and comprehensiveness of South Africa’s COVID-19 response. The Figure depicts the eight facilitators of the speed and comprehensiveness of the COVID-19 response in South Africa. It illustrates political will as the key driver and enabler of each of the facilitators identified and of the response overall.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization Global tuberculosis report, 2022. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2022.
    1. World Health Organization Global tuberculosis report, 2021. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2021.
    1. Migliori GB, et al. Country-specific lockdown measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on tuberculosis control: a global study. J Bras Pneumol. 2022;48:e20220087. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stop TB Partnership The potential impact of the Covid-19 response on tuberculosis in high-burden countries: a modelling analysis. Geneva, Switzerland: Stop TB Partnership; 2020.
    1. Pai M, Kasaeva T, Swaminathan S. Covid-19’s devastating effect on tuberculosis care — a path to recovery. N Engl J Med. 2022;386:1490–1493. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources