IOM this week handed over a pioneering tuberculosis (TB) outreach
project targeting hard to reach populations in the country's
southern Savannakhet and Champasak provinces to counterparts at the
Lao PDR National TB Control Centre.

The USD 300,000 project, funded by the Stop TB Partnership,
whose Secretariat is hosted by the World Health Organization, was
launched in November 2010 and pursued an active case finding
strategy in ten districts of the two provinces, which have high
levels of migration to and from neighbouring Thailand, Vietnam and
Cambodia, and the highest prevalence of TB in the country.

Limited resources, minority ethnic groups and population
mobility made TB detection, direct observation therapy and
adherence to a strict drug regime in one location difficult. IOM
therefore worked closely with national partners to develop an
active case finding strategy using the symptomatic survey and
sputum smear approach.

The project brought the mass screening to the villages by
teaching 1,628 health centre staff and village health volunteers
how to conduct active TB mass screening. It also trained 28
laboratory technicians in microscopy for TB diagnosis.

Some 363,878 people were screened and 177 sputum smear positive
cases were subsequently identified and referred for quality control
checks.

The project successfully raised awareness of TB and of how to
diagnose the disease and treat suspected cases through 15 outreach
events conducted in the target areas and at cross border check
points. Some 50,000 information packs were disseminated among the
target populations.

The results of the active case finding pilot strategy
implemented by the project will be presented at the Geneva Health
Forum 2012, 18-20 April 2012.

For more information please contact at IOM Vientiane:

Chiara Frattini

E-mail: "mailto:cfrattini@iom.int">cfrattini@iom.int

or

Thongleck Xiong 

E-mail: "mailto:thxiong@iom.int">thxiong@iom.int