Community tuberculosis screening, testing and care, Uganda.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a community-based tuberculosis and leprosy intervention in which village health teams and health workers conduct door-to-door tuberculosis screening, targeted screenings and contact tracing.

Methods: We conducted a before-and-after implementation study in Uganda to assess the effectiveness of the community tuberculosis intervention by looking at reach, outputs, adoption and effectiveness of the intervention. Campaign 1 was conducted in March 2022 and campaign 2 in September 2022. We calculated percentages of targets achieved and compared case notification rates during the intervention with corresponding quarters in the previous year. We also assessed the leprosy screening.

Findings: Over 5 days, campaign 1 screened 1 289 213 people (2.9% of the general population), of whom 179 144 (13.9%) fulfilled the presumptive tuberculosis criteria, and 4043 (2.3%) were diagnosed with bacteriologically-confirmed tuberculosis; 3710 (91.8%) individuals were linked to care. In campaign 2, 5 134 056 people (11.6% of the general population) were screened, detecting 428 444 (8.3%) presumptive tuberculosis patients and 8121 (1.9%) bacteriologically-confirmed tuberculosis patients; 5942 individuals (87.1%) were linked to care. The case notification rate increased from 48.1 to 59.5 per 100 000 population in campaign 1, with a case notification rate ratio of 1.24 (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.22-1.26). In campaign 2, the case notification rate increased from 45.0 to 71.6 per 100 000 population, with a case notification rate ratio of 1.59 (95% CI: 1.56-1.62). Of the 176 patients identified with leprosy, 137 (77.8%) initiated treatment.

Conclusion: This community tuberculosis screening initiative is effective. However, continuous monitoring and adaptations are needed to overcome context-specific implementation challenges.