USAID TB CARE II Project, FY2017 Q3 Core Quarterly Report, April-June 2017

University Research Company (URC) works with partners to enhance operational strategies aligned with the US National Action Plan for Combatting MDR-TB. The project's objectives are to decrease the TB and MDR-TB burden worldwide. In the third quarter of FY17, URC and its partners leveraged successes from the previous quarter to achieve milestones and objectives. A major workshop for Best Practices in DR-TB Community Care: Development of National Community-Based DR-TB Care Plans was planned, and field activities continued. The activities accomplished in this quarter build on past successes and are summarized below. Universal and Early Access is a key area of focus for the project. Best Practices for the Delivery of IPT involve expanding upon the success of a quantitative study through follow-up qualitative research. Local IRB approval was gained, the survey instrument was finalized, and patient interviews began. The data collection tool was also finalized, and a data-sharing plan was developed. The Advanced TB Diagnostics Course is a partnership between the TB CARE II team and McGill University to educate key stakeholders from high-burden TB countries about advanced TB diagnostics. The McGill Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Health was held from June 12-23, 2017, with 80 participants attending the Advanced TB Diagnostics course. Support was provided for 19 participants from low-income countries to attend, with 6 participants giving presentations or participating in panel discussions to share how the new tools and models from the course can be applied in their countries. Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is another key area of focus for the project. Community-based MDR-TB Consultation and Roll-Out involves preparations for the Best Practices in DR-TB Community Care: Development of National Community-Based DR-TB Care Plans workshop to be held from September 11-13 in Pretoria, South Africa. Over 60 participants have been invited, including multiple National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) directors and other high-level advisors from all 10 NAP countries. Support Countries to Introduce Short Course DR-TB Therapy and New Anti-TB Medications (STR & ND) involves facilitating stakeholder meetings with donors, implementation partners, and other representatives from Haiti, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Rwanda to share best practices and discuss national strategies to improve the uptake of STR & NDS. Activities varied by country, but generally involved training, updating and translating guidelines, renovating facilities, and conducting diagnostics training. Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is also a key area of focus for the project. Standardized GUV involves designing a Dissemination and Implementation grant proposal to implement an Institutional Accompaniment model using A-teams in Swaziland and refining the proposal with ongoing collaboration from URC-Swaziland and Columbia University/ICAP-Swaziland. A model for implementing GUV/FAST in healthcare settings to reduce TB transmission among healthcare workers, patients, and their families was also designed. Capacity Building for Infection Prevention and Control, FAST involves implementing FAST in Vietnam. The national guidelines on FAST implementation were approved by the NTP and were disseminated at the 7th National Scientific Conference in Hanoi through an oral presentation, a poster discussion, and features in the 60th anniversary book of the National Lung Hospital and the National Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases in Vietnam. Hard copies of the guidelines were distributed to attendees in Vietnamese. Airborne Infection Control Course involves accepting a pool of 65 applicants, with 35 of whom have confirmed attendance as of 20 July, and several others awaiting a US visa. The course will take place from 31 July to 11 August in Boston, MA.