The first OneStopTB clinic has arrived in Lusaka, Zambia! The mobile clinic will be used in the TREATS project, as part of a prevalence study where 32,000 people in eight different communities will be screened on tuberculosis.
TREATS stands for Tuberculosis Reduction through Expanded Anti-retroviral Treatment and Screening. The consortium members of this project include London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Imperial College London, Zambart, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, Sheffield University, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), Health Systems Trust, Delft Imaging Systems and QIAGEN.
The goal of this project is to better understand the stigma related to TB, mathematical and economic modelling to provide answers for how future large-scale interventions can be undertaken effectively, and use of the newest tools available for diagnosing TB infection and operating effectively on a large scale.
Our OneStopTB clinic is designed to screen people on TB in a quick and cost-effective way, and can be taken into the most remotest areas. It consists of three rooms:
- The X-ray room, where an X-ray image will be taken of a participant.
- An operator room where our CAD4TB software gives an indication of TB of the X-ray image within a minute.
- A laboratory with a GeneXpert machine to further test within two hours suspected cases of TB.
The mobile clinic will be used in a prevalence survey in eight PopART communities to screen 32,000 people for TB. PopART involves universal testing and treatment for HIV through house-to-house visits across communities in the period of 2014-2018. All members of these communities will also be screened for TB. TREATS will measure the impact of a combined TB/HIV intervention.
A TREATS team has been recruited to undertake the community screenings and tests in the mobile clinic, including: a team leader, radiographer, laboratory technician, data officer and a driver. During the field data collection, the OneStop will be stationed in each of the communities for three months.
An interesting feature of this project is that this OneStopTB truck was rented for one year from our South African office Innova Delft, instead of buying the truck.
Jeanette Hedstrom, TREATS Study Administrator, said: “Its arrival immediately drew everyone’s attention and the excitement was palpable at finally receiving the truck. Colleagues from Delft, KNCV and HST were all present during the arrival and were just as excited to see the OneStopTB platform mobile clinic.”
The team is now waiting for the second OneStopTB clinic, which will arrive soon in Lusaka. Our colleagues from Delft were able to take several pictures of the arrival of the truck and the enthusiastic TREATS team, as you can see below.
Do you want to know more about the TREATS project? Visit their website: https://treatsproject.org/
