M Urakawa, A Yasukawa, S Hirao, M Ota, Y Hatamoto, T Zama, Y Nagata, T Yoshiyama
{"title":"TB-related technical enquiries received at the Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Japan, during COVID-19.","authors":"M Urakawa, A Yasukawa, S Hirao, M Ota, Y Hatamoto, T Zama, Y Nagata, T Yoshiyama","doi":"10.5588/pha.24.0014","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Setting: </strong>Japan: a low-TB-burden country.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To characterise TB-related technical enquiries received in 2020-2022, and share the lessons learnt.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>This was a descriptive study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We received 1,898 communications, of which 1,447 (40.2 per month) were classified as technical enquiries, 34% fewer than the 2,197 enquiries received in 2017-2019. The enquiry rates were highest for Shimane (4.32/100,000 population) and Yamanashi (2.59/100,000 population) prefectures, and lowest in Ehime (0.00/100,000 population) and Yamagata (0.09/100,000 population) prefectures. The main organisations the enquirers belonged to were local governments (<i>n</i> = 989, 68.3%) and healthcare facilities (<i>n</i> = 242, 16.7%). The enquirers included medical doctors (<i>n</i> = 236, 16.3%), nurses (<i>n</i> = 814, 56.3%), and the general public (<i>n</i> = 141, 9.7%). The most frequent enquiries were about TB diagnosis and treatment, including laboratory diagnosis (<i>n</i> = 442, 30.6%), followed by the regulatory framework (<i>n</i> = 216, 14.9%), contact investigation (<i>n</i> = 151, 10.8%), and TB in foreigners (<i>n</i> = 112, 7.9%).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>During the COVID-19 era, we received two-thirds of technical enquiries compared with 2017-2019, because local health offices were overwhelmed by the pandemic. Since the most frequent enquiries were about diagnosis and treatment of TB, the health ministry of Japan should maintain a few specialised TB institutions with TB physicians to provide technical assistance.</p>","PeriodicalId":46239,"journal":{"name":"Public Health Action","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11373744/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public Health Action","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5588/pha.24.0014","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"RESPIRATORY SYSTEM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Setting: Japan: a low-TB-burden country.
Objective: To characterise TB-related technical enquiries received in 2020-2022, and share the lessons learnt.
Design: This was a descriptive study.
Results: We received 1,898 communications, of which 1,447 (40.2 per month) were classified as technical enquiries, 34% fewer than the 2,197 enquiries received in 2017-2019. The enquiry rates were highest for Shimane (4.32/100,000 population) and Yamanashi (2.59/100,000 population) prefectures, and lowest in Ehime (0.00/100,000 population) and Yamagata (0.09/100,000 population) prefectures. The main organisations the enquirers belonged to were local governments (n = 989, 68.3%) and healthcare facilities (n = 242, 16.7%). The enquirers included medical doctors (n = 236, 16.3%), nurses (n = 814, 56.3%), and the general public (n = 141, 9.7%). The most frequent enquiries were about TB diagnosis and treatment, including laboratory diagnosis (n = 442, 30.6%), followed by the regulatory framework (n = 216, 14.9%), contact investigation (n = 151, 10.8%), and TB in foreigners (n = 112, 7.9%).
Conclusion: During the COVID-19 era, we received two-thirds of technical enquiries compared with 2017-2019, because local health offices were overwhelmed by the pandemic. Since the most frequent enquiries were about diagnosis and treatment of TB, the health ministry of Japan should maintain a few specialised TB institutions with TB physicians to provide technical assistance.
期刊介绍:
Launched on 1 May 2011, Public Health Action (PHA) is an official publication of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). It is an open access, online journal available world-wide to physicians, health workers, researchers, professors, students and decision-makers, including public health centres, medical, university and pharmaceutical libraries, hospitals, clinics, foundations and institutions. PHA is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that actively encourages, communicates and reports new knowledge, dialogue and controversy in health systems and services for people in vulnerable and resource-limited communities — all topics that reflect the mission of The Union, Health solutions for the poor.