Using CLA towards an Innovative Approach Preventing Diagnostic Delay for TB Patients

The South Indian city of Bengaluru is home to over 22,000 people with tuberculosis (TB), a highly infectious disease that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. Quick diagnosis and early initiation of treatment are imperative to prevent TB from spreading, but delays are common in a system that relies on patients to get themselves tested, and has an inadequate mechanism to transport sputum and tissue samples to higher-level laboratories for  confirmatory testing.

To address this growing gap between the number of people referred for testing and the number actually getting tested, KHPT developed a Specimen Collection and Transportation (SCT) system under a USAID-funded project, the Tuberculosis Health Action Learning Initiative (THALI). KHPT established a successful system which would accommodate the requirements of the community, public  facilities and private providers, KHPT incorporated several components of USAID's CLA Framework.