Global Fund financing of public-private mix approaches for delivery of tuberculosis care

Objectives To map the extent and scope of public–private mix (PPM) interventions in tuberculosis (TB) control programmes supported by the Global Fund. Methods We reviewed the Global Fund’s official documents and data to analyse the distribution, characteristics and budgets of PPM approaches within Global Fund supported TB grants in recipient countries between 2003 and 2008. We supplemented this analysis with data on contribution of PPM to TB case notifications in 14 countries reported to World Health Organization in 2009, for the preparation of the global TB control report. Results Fifty‐eight of 93 countries and multi‐country recipients of Global Fund‐supported TB grants had PPM activities in 2008. Engagement with ‘for‐profit’ private sector was more prevalent in South Asia while involvement of prison health services has been common in Eastern Europe and central Asia. In the Middle East and North Africa, involving non‐governmental organizations seemed to be the focus. Average and median spending on PPM within grants was 10% and 5% respectively, ranging from 0.03% to 69% of the total grant budget. In China, India, Nigeria and the Philippines, PPM contributed to detecting more than 25% TB cases while maintaining high treatment success rates. Conclusion In spite of evidence of cost‐effectiveness, PPM constitutes only a modest part of overall TB control activities. Scaling up PPM across countries could contribute to expanding access to TB care, increasing case detection, improving treatment outcomes and help achieve the global TB control targets.     

A survey of sexual health services in UK prisons

Sexual health services in prisons are provided without recognized national standards or commissioning guidance and surveillance data are incomplete. This original survey provides essential information on key elements of services in a large sample of UK prisons that will inform planning, development and monitoring of such services in an era of scarce NHS resources.     

Tuberculosis and tuberculosis control in European prisons.

OBJECTIVE: Correctional facilities have often been cited as reservoirs for tuberculosis (TB), presenting a potential threat to the general population. Although correctional facilities are recognised as ideal settings for interventions, little is known about the TB epidemiology within them. The purpose of our survey was to collect data on TB in prisons of the WHO European Region and on existing control measures. DESIGN: A questionnaire was sent to 52 EuroTB correspondents asking for 2002 data on the total number of inmates, number of prisoners with TB, resistance rates, screening strategies, monitoring and responsibilities. RESULTS: Twenty-two (42.3%) countries completed the questionnaire. The median TB notification rate was 232 per 100,000 inmates (0-17,808). Prisoners had up to 83.6 times more TB than civilians. The majority (90.9%) of the participating countries reported performing active screening for TB on entry into prison, with a median detection rate of 393/100,000 (42-2362). Of the respondent countries, 81.8% claimed to perform contact investigations and 86.4% to house infectious TB patients separately. CONCLUSION: Although response to this survey was only 42.3% and might be biased by a country's engagement in TB control in prisons, the results highlight the vulnerability of prisoners to TB and emphasise the need for adequate case-finding and containment strategies in prison.     

监狱结核病疫情及防治现状

结核病是目前全球死亡率最高的传染病,逐渐受到世界各国的重视,随着WHO结核病控制策略DOTS的施行,全球结核病控制已取得一些成绩。然而,监狱在押犯人结核病容易受到忽视,往往成为DOTS策略的盲点。据估计,全球在押犯人约800～1 000万,并与社会普通群体之间处于双向流动状态,即社会人群因各种原因进入监狱,在押犯人因刑满释放等原因回归社会,据此测算,每年进监狱的人群达在押犯的4～6倍。     

湖北省两所监狱结核病现况调查研究

目的 了解示范区监狱结核病疫情和防治工作现状。方法 对示范区2所监狱3516名在押人员进行肺结核普查和结核病知晓率问卷调查,对有肺结核可疑症状者和X线胸片异常者进行痰涂片、培养、菌型鉴定和药敏试验检查。利用结核分枝杆菌散在分布数目可变串联重复序列分析方法(MIRU-VNTR)对痰菌阳性患者进行传染源同源性分析。计算监区肺结核患病率,并与普通人群患病率进行比较。结果 共确诊肺结核患者40例,其中涂片阳性1例,涂片阳性培养阳性1例(涂片阳性1例与涂片阳性培养阳性1例为同一例患者),涂片阴性培养阳性5例,涂片阴性培养阴性34例。6例培养阳性菌株药敏试验结果显示,共有3例患者耐药,其中1例耐链霉素,1例同时耐异烟肼、利福平和乙胺丁醇,1例同时耐异烟肼、利福平、乙胺丁醇和氧氟沙星。肺结核患病率、涂阳患病率、菌阳患病率分别为1156.4/10万（40/3459）、28.9/10万（1/3459）、173.5/10万（6/3459）。其中肺结核患病率高于当地普通人群患病率338.4/10万（χ²=17.858,P＜0.01）。在押人员对3条核心信息总知晓率为61.6%（6384/10 359）,其中乙监狱67.4%（4737/7026）,甲监狱49.4%（1647/3333）,差异有统计学意义（χ²=309.1,P＜0.01）。同一监狱5例痰菌阳性患者其传染源来源不同。结论 监狱结核病疫情严重,应探索有效的监狱结核病防控模式。     

Integrated delivery of HIV and tuberculosis services in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

Tuberculosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in people with HIV and about a quarter of HIV-related deaths are attributed to tuberculosis. In this Review we identify and synthesise published evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of eight integrated strategies recommended by WHO that represent coordinated delivery of HIV and tuberculosis services. Evidence supports concurrent screening for tuberculosis and HIV, and provision of either co-trimoxazole during routine tuberculosis care or isoniazid during routine HIV care and at voluntary counselling and testing centres. Although integration of antiretroviral therapy into tuberculosis care has shown promise for improving health outcomes for patients, evidence is insufficient to make conclusive claims. Evidence is also insufficient on the accessibility of condoms at tuberculosis facilities, the benefits of risk reduction counselling in patients with tuberculosis, and the effectiveness of tuberculosis infection control in HIV health-care settings. The vertical response to the tuberculosis and HIV epidemics is ineffective and inefficient. Implications for policy makers and funders include further investments in implementing integrated tuberculosis and HIV programmes with known effectiveness, preferably in a way that strengthens health systems; evaluative research that identifies barriers to integration; and research on integrated strategies for which effectiveness, efficiency, and affordability are not well established.     

A prevalence survey for smear-positive tuberculosis in Thai prisons.

SETTINGS: Twenty-seven prisons in Thailand. OBJECTIVES: To measure the prevalence of smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) and to compare its detection using the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for prisons or the International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC) criteria. METHOD: Prisoners who were not on TB medications and who had not been treated for TB in the previous 6 months were enrolled in the survey. Prison nurses conducted a one-time mass screening using the WHO questionnaire, with follow-up sputum collection in TB suspects. RESULTS: Of 71594 prisoners, 22132 (30.9%) were identified as TB suspects, and 254 were confirmed by sputum smear, for a prevalence of 354.8/100000. Males were most likely to be diagnosed with TB disease (OR 2.6), as were those transferring in from another prison versus new prisoners (OR 3.0). The positive predictive value of the WHO criteria was 1.2%, and that of the ISTC standard was 5.9%. CONCLUSION: TB prevalence in this survey remained high. WHO guidelines, recognised as a standard, require health workers to question prisoners and measure height and weight. The ISTC standard, a single question about cough >or=2 weeks, is simple, may be asked by non-health personnel and may be a better alternative.     

Effectiveness of tuberculosis control programmes in prisons, Barcelona 1987-2000.

SETTING: Different bodies have emphasised the need for prisons to implement and evaluate their own tuberculosis prevention and control programmes (TPCP), with the aims of evaluating TPCP in Barcelona prisons and obtaining conclusions that would allow any necessary modifications to be introduced to improve their effectiveness. METHODS: An assessment was carried out for the period 1987-2000, using the exhaustive retrospective method. The quantitative indicators used were defined in the same way as those employed by the Barcelona TPCP, which were taken as the gold standard. The assessment studied trends in the indicators and evaluated the impact by comparing the results with the gold standard. RESULTS: Statistically significant trends (P < 0.0001) were found for incidence rates, infection prevalence, treatment adherence rates among smear-positive cases and percentage of cases on directly observed treatment (DOT). When impact was assessed, only the decline in the average annual incidence rate (25.2%) and desired rates of adherence among smear-positives (> or = 95% since 1993) achieved the proposed objectives. CONCLUSIONS: The observed decline in incidence shows that when programmes are based on reducing diagnostic delay, controlling adherence using DOT and tracing contacts, tuberculosis control among the prisons is effective.     

Global epidemiology of tuberculosis

This article provides an overview of the current scale of the global tuberculosis epidemic. It describes the global tuberculosis situation as measured by reported and estimated cases and deaths. The increasing threats of HIV-related tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis receive particular attention. There is a brief review of the extent of implementation of effective tuberculosis control using the DOTS strategy. The article ends with a summary of the approaches needed to accelerate progress in global tuberculosis control.     

中国全球基金结核病项目流动人口结核病防治实施效果评价

目的了解中国全球基金流动人口结核病防治项目的患者发现和治疗管理情况,评价项目实施效果。方法采用中国全球基金流动人口结核病项目季度报表系统的数据,对项目地区的患者发现、患者治疗转归以及跨区域患者治疗管理等信息进行分析,同时与结核病管理信息系统所记录的2010年全国登记发现的流动人口结核病患者信息进行对比分析,评价项目地区患者发现与治疗转归结果。在开展全球基金流动人口防治项目的6年当中,项目地区共登记流动人口活动性肺结核患者165529例;2010年全国流动人口数为2.13亿,共发现登记流动人口肺结核患者73963例。结果项目地区登记的流动人口活动性肺结核患者登记率由第1个实施年度的25.34/10万（4166/16440400）上升到第6个实施年度的71.43/10万（41439/58011500）;在登记地进行治疗管理的患者中,初治涂阳和复治涂阳患者的治愈率分别为90.87%（43442/47809）和78.63%(4847/6164),初治涂阴和未查痰患者的完成疗程率为92.26%(59088/65405);转出到其他县（区）进行治疗的患者,初治涂阳和复治涂阳的治愈率分别为48.85%（1444/2956）和37.99%（106/279）,初治涂阴和未查痰患者的完成疗程率为47.06%（1335/2837）;项目地区的活动性患者和涂阳患者的登记率均明显高于2010年全国流动人口患者的登记水平［活动性患者74.26/10万（41615/56040600）,34.72/10万（73963/21300000）,U=127.08,P=0.000;涂阳患者32.20/10万（18047/56040600）,15.16/10万（32298/21300000）,U=183.83,P=0.000］。转出到其他县（区）进行治疗管理的患者,项目地区的治疗成功率［48.45%,（1550+1392）/6072］高于全国水平［8.89%,（279+177）/5127］（χ²=2058.10,P=0.000）,且丢失率（28.69%,1742/6072）低于全国水平（90.83%,4657/5127）（χ²=4383.45,P=0.000）。结论全球基金流动人口项目取得了较好的防治效果,提高了患者的发现水平以及患者的治疗转归结果。