Combining TB diagnostic approaches for quicker results, closer to where communities first seek care

Challenges

Tuberculosis continues to cause more deaths each year than any other infectious disease, after COVID-19. An estimated 10 million people contracted the disease in 2020, more than 40% of whom went undiagnosed, and therefore untreated. Currently, no single TB diagnostic tool is suitable for all settings and populations, further complicating access.

Solutions

By combining diagnostic screening and testing approaches and evaluating their effectiveness, researchers will determine the most accurate, feasible, acceptable and cost-effective solutions to improve access to TB diagnosis closer to where people first seek out care, helping to reach more people, more quickly, with TB prevention treatment.

Working jointly with FIND through another Unitaid-funded initiative, LSTM will integrate new diagnostic technologies into combination approaches to optimize and operationalize new products as they become available.

The impact we are seeking

• Rapidly increase the number of people screened for TB at the local level and the number that receive a definitive diagnosis, particularly reducing the number of people with TB who are currently not diagnosed.
• Increase the number of people who initiate treatment for TB with a confirmed TB diagnosis
• Mobilize government, community, and civil society action to stimulate demand for inclusion of combination TB diagnostics and novel diagnostics within national treatment programs.