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Open Access Coverage of clinic-based TB screening in South Africa may be low in key risk groups

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The South African Ministry of Health has proposed screening all clinic attendees for tuberculosis (TB). Amongst other factors, male sex and bar attendance are associated with higher TB risk. We show that 45% of adults surveyed in Western Cape attended a clinic within 6 months, and therefore potentially a relatively high proportion of the population could be reached through clinic-based screening. However, fewer than 20% of all men aged 18–25 years, or men aged 26–45 who attend bars, attended a clinic. The population-level impact of clinic-based screening may be reduced by low coverage among key risk groups.

Keywords: South Africa; primary health care; screening; tuberculosis

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: TB Modelling Group, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK 2: TB Modelling Group, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK, Health Economics and Decision Science, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK 3: ZAMBART Project, School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia 4: ZAMBART Project, School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia, TB Department, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia 5: Department of Clinical Research, LSHTM, London, UK 6: ZAMBART Project, School of Medicine, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia, Department of Clinical Research, LSHTM, London, UK

Publication date: 21 March 2016

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  • Public Health Action (PHA), The Union's quarterly Open Access journal, welcomes the submission of articles on operational research. It publishes high-quality scientific research on health services, providing new knowledge on how to improve access, equity, quality and efficiency of health systems and services.

    The Editors will consider any manuscript reporting original research on quality improvements, cost-benefit analysis, legislation, training and capacity building, with a focus on all relevant areas of public health (e.g. infection control, nutrition, TB, HIV, vaccines, smoking, COVID-19, microbial resistance, outbreaks etc).

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