Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract NACNDC/19JASH00047 (Poster) | Published: 25 Nov 2025
1Mayuge District Local Government, Uganda & Local Partnership Health Services-East Central/Makerere University Joint Aid Program
&Corresponding author: Ndikolaki Fred, Mayuge District Local Government, Uganda, Email: ndikolakifred15@gmail.com
Received: 17 Sep 2025, Accepted: 20 Oct 2025, Published: 25 Nov 2025
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Tuberculosis (TB), Detection, Health Center II, Community Engagement
©Ndikolaki Fred et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Ndikolaki Fred et al. Harnessing health centre II and community engagement to boost TB case detection in Mayuge District, Uganda. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8(ConfProc6):00047. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO6-00047
Mayuge District has consistently struggled to meet its Tuberculosis (TB) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), particularly TB case detection, since attaining district status in 2000. In FY 2022/23, only 60% of NTLP targets were achieved (DHIS2), a trend largely attributed to limited availability and accessibility of TB services. To reverse this pattern, a pilot project was initiated to leverage Health Center II (HCII) facilities and community engagement for TB case finding.
Twenty-one (21) sites were purposively selected, including five (5) newly upgraded HCIIIs and sixteen (16) HCIIs without Diagnostic and Treatment Units (DTUs), covering 63% of the projected district population. From October to December 2023, one trained community volunteer per site conducted targeted TB screening at both health facility and community levels. Presumptive cases were recorded, guided to provide quality sputum samples, and transported through the hub system for GeneXpert testing. Results were relayed back through the same system, and confirmed TB patients were linked to the nearest DTU for treatment initiation.
Following the pilot implementation conducted in October–December 2023, the study observed noticeable improvements in TB case notification across the subsequent quarters. Before the pilot, from July to September 2023, the district registered 134 TB cases, achieving 83% of the expected notifications. During the pilot period (October–December 2023), performance rose significantly, with 153 TB cases registered, representing 96.9%. In the post-pilot period, TB case notification remained consistently high. From January to March 2024, 141 cases were registered (88%), followed by 144 cases from April to June 2024 (89.9%). These findings suggest that the pilot intervention contributed to improving and sustaining higher TB case registration performance across the district.
Engaging HCIIs and community structures in TB case finding is a highly effective strategy for districts with limited and widely spaced DTUs such as Mayuge. The pilot demonstrated that community-driven approaches significantly enhance case detection and linkage to care, directly contributing to NTLP performance improvement.
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