Facilitating Access to Tuberculosis Care in Mali

TB Bolo educators are trained to detect tuberculosis and refer patients into the health center. GAIA VF supports half the cost of the clinic visit, while the CSCOM pays for the other half of the cost. This approach lowers the barrier to treatment and has resulted in the detection of a number of TB cases that might otherwise have continued to spread TB in the surrounding community. In 2009 1,560 individuals were educated and over 55 suspect cases were sent to the health center where they were examined by a physician and sent for further testing if required. Due to a low rate of return of positive TB tests at the local laboratory, and problems related to transporting patients to the laboratory for their sputum tests, we helped the CSCOM build a new lab on site to analyze sputum and smears, and hired and trained a new laboratory assistant (Awa). Julie and Lauren (the Brown students that launched our new TB BOLO program) wrote an abstract about their experience that was accepted for oral and poster presentation at the 14th Annual conference of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and lung Disease, North America. Jane Carter, M.D., one of their Brown University mentors, reported that Lauren did an excellent job of presenting our work!