Fighting TB in Pakistan: New pilot engages private-sector pharmacies to increase early case detection
In Pakistan, the private sector caters to about 70% of the primary health care needs of the population, though has historically not been engaged in tuberculosis (TB) control or preventive activities. To engage the retail pharmacies in TB control, the National TB program (NTP) partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program to pilot an intervention targeting the retail pharmaceutical sector in TB management with the intention of increasing early TB case detection.
TB is one of the biggest public health problems in Pakistan, ranking fifth among high-burden TB countries, with the fourth-highest prevalence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) globally. In 2013/14 SIAPS assisted the NTP in implementing a pilot intervention to engage 276 retail pharmacies in six major cities in Pakistan in early case detection—a key factor in reducing TB transmission.
Results from the pilot have shown that establishing a mechanism to refer patients from private drug outlets to TB diagnostic facilities, combined with improving dispensers’ knowledge of TB symptoms and providing the necessary tools, expands the NTP’s reach and has the potential to significantly increase TB case finding.
By implementing an innovative and flexible training methodology to meet the needs of private pharmacies and forming partnerships with pharmacy schools for TB control, SIAPS displayed a promising sustainable model for future PPM in Pakistan. This was recognized during a December 10, 2015 national-level dissemination meeting with participants from donor agencies, the NTP, implementing partners and a local pharmacy school. As a result of the success of the pilot and the recent dissemination meeting, SIAPS supported the NTP in the development of a concept note and tentative budget for submission to the Global Fund to expand the project on a national scale.
Read more about the pilot on the SIAPS website here.
Source: SIAPS
