Transcript TUBERCULOSIS LABORATORY NETWORK

TUBERCULOSIS
LABORATORY NETWORK UGANDA
Dr. Achilles Katamba
Zone TB/Leprosy Supervisor,
Kampala City
Outline of presentation
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Introduction
The Uganda Tuberculosis (TB) laboratory network
Personnel at different Health Unit Levels – Uganda
Training and Supervision
Supplies for TB laboratory services
Quality Control for sputum smear Microscopy
Problems encountered in relation to microscopy network
Way forward
Introduction
• 9 TB Operational zones (regions) each headed by a zone
(region) TB & Leprosy Supervisor (ZTLS)
• Each zone is made up of several districts and TB services
in each district are supervised by a district TB & Leprosy
supervisor (DTLS)
• Population approximately 25m (2002 pop. & housing
census)
• 440 diagnostic TB diagnostic units (average of 57,000
people per diagnostic center)
The Uganda TB Laboratory Network
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Both government and non-government Health facilities
make up the laboratory network
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Health Unit (Health Center III & IV lab.
– District lab
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Regional lab.
– National Reference lab.
NB: TB laboratory services are integrated with other laboratory services,
no stand alone laboratories for TB except for the National reference
laboratory
Personnel at different Health Unit
Levels - Uganda
• Health Center III – Lab. Assistant
• Health Center IV – Lab. Technician
• District/Regional/Reference lab. – Lab.
Technologist
Training and Supervision
• Trained lab. Staffs are recruited and posted to the various
health facilities, however, due world bank embargo to
recruitment of civil servants the number of staffs currently
is lower than required to provide quality services
• Through supervision various government programs (TB,
Malaria, HIV) would access the training needs and plan
for appropriate training, however, this is not taking place
due to certain constraints
• TB program has a training center (Buluba) where staffs
are sent to train on sputum microscopy
Supplies for TB laboratory Services
• Supplies are decentralized to the various zones
(regions), form where they are distributed to the
districts and finally to the health facilities
• The Uganda NTLP has had a fairly regular supply of
laboratory supplies except sputum microscopy cups,
slides and slide boxes
• Recently the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA) through the IUATLD has supplied the
required materials
Quality Control for smear sputum
Microscopy
• Both internal and external quality control have
not been conducted in majority of the laboratories
in the network except in the TB program training
center (Buluba)
• Recently, quality control services have been
started in one of the 9 regions (zones) with the
hope that this will spread to cover the whole
country (German Leprosy Relief Association)
Problems encountered in relation to
microscopy network
• Leadership
• Resources!
• Training
• Insurgency in some parts of the country!
Way Forward
• CDC Uganda has agreed to sponsor the post of a leader
for the National TB laboratory services
• Training – currently we are undergoing training to
address the gaps of quality control of sputum smear
microscopy
• Resources – some resources e.g. training materials will
be offered at the end of this course and further support
both technical and material will be provided on request
• Government with assistance from the neighboring
countries and other donor countries are finding
solutions to end the insurgency
Thank You for Listening