• Andrew Kazibwe, Fred Twinomugisha, Joseph Musaazi, Florence Nakaggwa, Disan Lukanga, Phillip Aleu, Timothy Kiyemba, Abel Nkolo, Nicholas Sebuliba Kirirabwa, Debora B Freitas Lopez, Estella Birabwa, Seyoum Dejene, and Stella Zawedde-Muyanja.
• The AIDS Support Organization, Kampala, Uganda.
• Afr Health Sci. 2021 Sep 1; 21 (3): 975-984.

IntroductionSystematic screening for TB among patients presenting to care and among high risk populations is recommended to improve TB case finding. We aimed to describe the comparative yield of three TB screening approaches implemented by a large urban TB project in central Uganda.MethodsWe abstracted data on the screening cascade from 65 health facilities and their surrounding communities (numbers screened, with presumptive TB, receiving a diagnostic test and diagnosed with TB) from the different clinic and community TB registers.ResultsFrom January 2018 to December 2019, 93,378 (24%) of all patients screened at health facilities had presumptive TB; 77,381 (82.9%) received a diagnostic test and 14,305 (18.5%) were diagnosed with TB. The screening yield (the number of patients diagnosed with TB out of all patients screened) was 0.3% and was three times higher among men than women (0.6% vs 0.2% p<0.01). During targeted community screening interventions, 9874 (21.1%) of all patients screened had presumptive TB; 7034 (71.2%) of these received a diagnostic test and 1699 (24.2%) were diagnosed with TB. The screening yield was higher among men, (3.7% vs 3.3% p<0.01) and highest among children 0-14 (4.8% vs 3.2% p<0.01).ConclusionTargeted community TB screening interventions improve access to TB diagnosis for men and children 0-14 years.© 2021 Kazibwe A et al.

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