The Tuberculosis Accelerated and Response and Care (TB ARC) team held a one day meeting with representatives from AIDS, Population, and Health Integrated Assistance (APHIA) teams to formally introduce the activity as well as explore collaborative opportunities.
The meeting, which was held on December 10, 2013, at the Centre for Health Solutions (CHS) Nairobi office, was attended by representatives from APHIA Western/Nyanza, APHIAPlus Nairobi/Coast, APHIAPlus Nuru ya Bonde, APHIAPlus IMARISHA, APHIAPlus KAMILI and the CHS team.
In his welcome remarks, CHS Chief Executive Officer, Dr Paul Wekesa, urged both teams to synergize and work together in order to turn the tide in the fight against TB. “We strongly value local partnerships and so need to work as strategic partners” said Dr Wekesa.
Dr Samuel Kinyajui, Chief of Party of the TB-ARC Activity took participants through the TB-ARC activity including its mission, vision and objectives. He explained that there were global targets to conquer TB by 2035 but Kenya needed to accomplish this in line with Vision 2030.
“Organisations and the government cannot achieve this on their own and so we need to rally different implementers and form sustainable partnerships to reduce TB transmission in Kenya.” said Dr Kinyanjui.
The areas of collaboration outlined were: implementation of the 5Is, scale up of paediatric TB, Multi Drug Resistant TB management and community TB screening among others. The APHIA partners called for more coordination and collaboration with the National Tuberculosis, Leprosy and Lung Disease Unit (NTLD-Unit) and committed to be involved in all the TB quarterly meetings.
Dr Kinyanjui promised that there would be more collaborative meetings especially in light of the newly devolved government system.
“Our work will be in close collaboration with all partners and collaborators to to ensure inclusive involvement of public, private, informal and congregate settings in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of evidence-informed TB interventions in Kenya.” said Dr Kinyanjui.
The USAID funded Tuberculosis Accelerated Response and Care activity seeks to expand access to quality-assured TB services in all Counties and for all forms of TB through the identification and implementation of evidence-based interventions that support and/or complement the activities of the NTLD-Unit and increase the proportion of TB cases identified and treated over a period of five years.
The activity has a special emphasis on case-finding and management of paediatric TB in Kenya especially with studies showing that the burden of TB among children under 15 years of age is at 12% of the total TB burden in Kenya.
