Eradicate Tuberculosis (ETB) Project Year 1 Work Plan

The project will work in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Zambia, the National Tuberculosis Program, the private sector, and others at the national, provincial, district, and community levels. The project's objectives are to increase the number of individuals screened for TB in the target provinces by 50 percent and to increase TB treatment success rate to above 85 percent in the target provinces. The project will focus on specific populations with high TB burdens, including underserved communities, people in congregate settings such as prisons, mining communities, children, and people living with HIV/AIDS. The project will also maintain a keen focus on ensuring that all activities are gender-sensitive and responsive and are informed by the activity's Gender Integration Strategy. The project will be implemented in six target provinces: Northern, Luapula, Muchinga, Copperbelt, Central, and North-Western provinces. The 28 districts selected for the project were chosen in consultation with the National TB Program and the Provincial Medical Officers, taking into consideration the district TB burden. The project will work closely with the National TB Program, the private sector, other implementing partners, and the provincial and district authorities in the six selected provinces to achieve the project's objectives. The project's consortium consists of PATH as the lead contractor, ZAMBART, Afya Mzuri, Community Initiative for Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and Malaria plus related diseases (CITAM+), African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), and Initiatives Inc. Each partner organization has specific responsibilities in the implementation of the project. PATH will provide overall management, financial, and technical oversight, while Afya Mzuri will lead the cross-cutting community TB training, mobilization, and awareness-raising activities. ASLM will have primary responsibility for increasing TB case detection through quality-assured microscopy and other diagnostic methods in the six targeted provinces. CITAM+ will develop and implement Advocacy, Communication, and Social Mobilization (ACSM) activities aimed at increasing financing for TB control efforts. Initiatives Inc. will assess the National TB Program's governance structure to identify human resources for health gaps and work to develop plans to fill them in collaboration with the National TB Program. The project will implement various activities to achieve its objectives, including intensified case finding, isoniazid preventive therapy, infection control for tuberculosis, and direct observed treatment, short-course. The project will also work on strengthening the National TB Program's response to TB, including strategies, guidelines, standard operative procedures, and protocols for addressing drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB. The project will maintain a keen focus on monitoring and evaluation, and will work closely with the National TB Program, the private sector, other implementing partners, and the provincial and district authorities in the six selected provinces to achieve the project's objectives. The project's success will be measured by the increase in the number of individuals screened for TB, the increase in TB treatment success rate, and the reduction in TB-related mortality in the intervention provinces.