Project News

Kalomo and Choma Districts conducted a simulation workshop for the newly developed TB sample referral system on 4-5 January in Choma, Southern Province. The development of a TB sample referral system is a component of DSAP (District Specific Activity Plan) through which the project supports those two districts since 2016.

The component focuses on developing a courier system for TB samples from health facilities without laboratory to ones that have laboratory examination capacity. In most cases, health centres send presumptive TB patients to a facility that runs a laboratory. However, many patients are generally reluctant to visit facilities for lab testing that are distant, which delays the detection of TB cases. Those two target districts have chosen this problem to be addressed by the DSAP. They decided to transfer samples rather than patients by developing a specimen courier system.

In this workshop, the participants from twenty one health facilities starting the sample referral from this January conducted the simulation of sample courier and practiced sputum fixation. They confirmed the flow of sample collection and courier and had hands-on-training on fixation at the laboratory of Choma General Hospital. The clinical officers and laboratory technicians from the District Health Offices facilitated the whole workshop.

The same training is planned for the rest of health centres in those two districts later this year.

TB Officer from the Kalomo District Health Office facilitates the simulation

Participants doing the roll-play