Lessons Learned From TB Work With People Living With HIV

To support the work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), NGO support groups, community-based organisations (CBOs), and others involved in working with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) patients, the International AIDS Alliance has published this factsheet of information about their work on TB and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV).

The document briefly describes several types of TB/HIV integrated interventions supported by the Alliance, including:

• Community health workers and PLHIV network support agents - to link communities and health systems, support delivery of community-based treatment programmes, and provide HIV services within TB clinics.
• Strategic partnerships - with national TB programmes, TB service providers, and CBO's.
• Advocacy at national and local levels.
• Anti-stigma programmes - including training, development of training materials.
• Care and support of PLHIV/TB - including clinical services, referrals, treatment, and capacity building of local civil society organisations to provide care and support.
• Knowledge sharing across the Alliance and with other partners.
• Technical assistance in TB and HIV work.

A high-level case study summary is provided as part of this pamphlet, describing a community-based Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course (DOTS) programme undertaken in Bangladesh, a country noted as one of the 22 leading countries in TB burden.  Through this programme, with support of the National TB Control Programme, improved TB outcomes were recognised with regards to case detection rates, maintenance of coverage success rates, and increases in DOT.

Further content includes a list of "Good Practice Programme Standards for TB", developed to guide the Alliance HIV programming globally, along with additional resource linkage to the Understanding and Challenging TB Stigma toolkit.