Title: Community-based TB control
Course: Communicable Diseases Part 2 - Ethiopia (Full)

Community-based TB control

It is useful at this point to remind you of a range of TB control measures that are important at the level of the community. Importantly, these are the community-based TB control measures that need to be coordinated and delivered by you as the health worker and include the following:

- Create community awareness about TB transmission, the treatment of TB and the prevention methods used to stop the spread of the disease
- Identify and refer TB suspects in the community as early as possible
- Provide BCG vaccine to children at birth
- Refer TB patients for sputum examination or arrange for sputum collection
- Monitor adherence to prescribed anti-TB drugs during the intensive and the continuation phases of treatment
- Keep records on what you are doing for TB control
- Trace patients who miss doses or default on medication and ensure medication is resumed

Ensuring that treatment is resumed reduces the risk that the patient will develop Multi-Drug Resistant TB.

- Give support for patients throughout the course of treatment
- Ensure TB/HIV co-infection patients benefit from both programmes; advise TB patients to be screened for HIV and HIV-positive patients to be screened for TB
- Coordinate TB control activities of volunteers/model families in their kebeles and report their monthly activities.