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Home / Public Health Action, Volume 12, Number 1

Open Access A structured community engagement strategy to support uptake of TB active case-finding

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BACKGROUND: In Lima, Peru, a mobile TB screening program (“TB Móvil”) was implemented in high TB prevalence districts to increase TB screening. Community engagement activities to promote TB Móvil were simultaneously conducted.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a structured, theory-driven community engagement strategy to support the uptake of TB Móvil.

METHODS: We adapted Popular Opinion Leader (POL), an evidence-based social networking intervention previously used in Peru to promote HIV testing, for TB Móvil. Community health workers, women who run soup kitchens, and motorcycle taxi drivers served as “popular opinion leaders” who disseminated information about TB Móvil in everyday conversations, aided by a multi-media campaign. Performance indicators of POL included the number/characteristics of persons screened; number of multimedia elements; and proportion of persons with abnormal radiographs hearing about TB Móvil before attending.

RESULTS: Between February 2019 and January 2020, 63,899 people attended the TB Móvil program at 210 sites; 60.1% were female. The multimedia campaign included 36 videos, 16 audio vignettes, flyers, posters, community murals and “jingles.” Among attendees receiving an abnormal chest X-ray suggestive of TB, 48% (6,935/14,563) reported hearing about TB Móvil before attending.

CONCLUSIONS: POL promotes the uptake of TB Móvil and should be considered as a strategy for increasing TB screening uptake.

Keywords: South America; TB testing; social networking

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: School of Social Work, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 2: Socios En Salud Sucursal Perú, Lima, Perú 3: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 4: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 5: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, Division of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA 6: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA, Socios En Salud Sucursal Perú, Lima, Perú

Publication date: March 21, 2022

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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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