In 2018, USAID announced the launch of The Global Accelerator to End Tuberculosis (TB). This important initiative focuses on leveraging additional resources from countries, private-sector partners, and other local organizations to meet the United Nations’ target of treating 40 million infected people by 2022. In Zambia, USAID supports the Global Accelerator through the Eradicate Tuberculosis project (ETB).
The USAID ETB project works across 63 districts, targeting high TB-burden communities, people living with HIV, children, and individuals living in congregate settings such as prisons. ETB supports interventions at the individual, community, and national level. ETB also supports TB screenings and tests while improving treatment success rates for individuals.
The project works with communities to conduct TB elimination activities, and builds the capacity of healthcare workers to better detect TB cases and manage drug susceptible and drug resistant TB. ETB also strengthens laboratory infrastructure and diagnostic techniques and supports operational research. At the national program level, ETB supports development and updating of policy guidance documents and strong monitoring and evaluation of TB programming.
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Expected Results
In support of the Zambian government’s goal of reducing TB-related mortality by 50 percent in targeted provinces by 2022, ETB plans to test over 400,000 people for TB by the end of the project. Of those tested, over 90,000 people will be diagnosed with and treated for TB, including more than 1,000 people with drug resistant TB. ETB will also support the roll out of a TB electronic record system which will provide data for timely decision making.
