The Stop TB Partnership, with the support of USAID and in collaboration with the National Center for TB and Leprosy Control (CENAT) and KHANA launched OneImpact in Cambodia. OneImpact is Stop TB Partnership’s digital tool (powered by Dure technologies). It enables people with TB to connect with peers, access TB services and information and report problems faced while on TB treatment.

His Excellency Dr Mao Ten Eng, Advisor to the Ministry of Health and Director of CENAT opened the workshop. “Once again we welcome the innovation of the Stop TB Partnership. OneImpact will not only empower people with TB but it will also support the realization of our national plan to engage meaningfully with civil society and ensure patient centred care in TB,” Said Dr Mao Ten Eng.

The workshop organized by CENAT, KHANA and the Stop TB Partnership, comprised participants from the national program, the district and provincial health services, representatives from the patient support group program and TB survivors. Together they identified the challenges faced by people with TB along the pathway of care and ways in which digital technology could support people with TB, TB services and the national program.

OneImpact now known as OneImpactK+ will be integrated into the existing patient support group program in Siem Reap. The App is available in the Khmer language and accessible on SMART phones. It is expected that with this tool, the patient support group leaders, the operational district services and the national program will have access to more reliable data which can inform service delivery and the national response.

“OneImpactK+ will help the district to further understand the needs and concerns of our patients and through OneImpactK+ we hope to provide better services by addressing the problems raised in a more timely manner, said Dr Kong Visal, Operational Health District Deputy Director.

“Our challenge is now to make sure that the data collected is used for improving services for people with TB,” said Mr Choub Sok Chamreun, Executive Director, KHANA.

With the support of CENAT, Stop TB Partnership, Dure Technologies and KHANA Patient support groups (10 people) and people with TB (100) will be trained on OneImpact K+. The project implementation of OneImpact K+ will begin in August 2018.

Source Link: https://www.stoptb.org/news/oneimpact-launched-cambodia

TB People Ukraine, a community-based organization based out of Ukraine, launched a next-generation OneImpact CLM platform. The platform leverages cutting-edge innovations like Social media channels, voice-enabled conversational AI, and various other innovations to strengthen the community engagement process.

These innovations not only help in maximizing reach to the vulnerable communities at the last mile but also allow the national program to make evidence-based decisions based on community voices. Dure Technologies would like to appreciate the efforts and support of TBPeople Ukraine members and committed to contribute with digital innovations & strategic support to build a better, efficient, and more responsive healthcare system for all.

Source Link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/end-tb-through-innovations-people-ukraine-launched-next-gen-/

Mr Joseph Kwami Degley, Ketu South Municipal Director of Health Services has said nobody should die from Tuberculosis (TB) because the infectious disease is curable and preventable.

He said it was important for people to report to health facilities when they start to cough with sputum for diagnosis to allow for early detection and treatment saying, delay in seeking care could be disastrous.

The Municipal Director, who was speaking at the launch of Volta Regional TBImpact -Ghana Project at Wudoaba in the Ketu South Municipality said no death must result from TB (caused by bacteria that most often affect the lungs) when its treatment was free and accessible.

“If anybody should die of TB now, we can take it that the person has decided to commit suicide. I am saying this because there is a potent cure for TB and the treatment is free and easily accessible at all health facilities.

Mr Degley said in line with Hope for Future Generations' (HFFG) goal to improve the well-being and quality of life of communities by empowering them with information to enable them to make critical decisions through partnerships, capacity building, youth-friendly service deliveries, advocacy among others, the health sector also had universal health - expanding services to the doorsteps of all people as one of its major objectives.

He said the Directorate was doing its best to implement this objective and called for collaboration from all to make it effective.

The TBImpact – Ghana is a year-long project being implemented by HFFG with a grant secured from the Stop TB Partnership aimed at capacitating affected communities to lead to the design, implementation, and monitoring of TB interventions, as well as promoting accessible, equitable and quality TB services in selected districts in Greater Accra, Central and Volta Regions of Ghana.

Mr Wisdom Klenyuie, Regional TB Coordinator, who provided some statistics to underscore the need to take the fight against the disease seriously, said TB patients must adhere to treatment.

He said stopping TB treatment prematurely could lead to Multidrug-Resistant (MDR) TB, a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to most effective first-line anti-TB drugs.

“MDR-TB is a severe form of TB, and its treatment takes about 9-11 months using special drugs while drug-susceptible (normal) TB is treated with a standard six-month course.”

Madam Cecilia Lodonu-Senoo, Executive Director of HFFG, Ms Patricia, in a speech read for her said the project which formed part of efforts to reduce the TB burden and advocate increased funding for the disease was being implemented in partnership with the National Tuberculosis Programme, Ghana Health Service, TB Voice Network and OneImpact Digital Solutions.

She indicated that the project would be community-led involving 15 TB advocates and women-led groups who would undergo training to lead advocacy and policy dialogue at all levels using locally generated TB data.

There would also be quarterly media talk shows using TB survivors, TB activists, and young women affected by TB, participation of trained TB survivors in quarterly TB reviews and, organisation of training on OneImpact software for TB survivors to empower community members with the right information on TB.

Mr Charles Amanyo, Municipal Health Promotion Officer in declaring the project duly launched, expressed hope the project would contribute to stopping the disease and called, “we should all be concerned to work to make the project live up to its name, TBImpact, as no one knows the next victim.”

Source Link: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1153718/no-one-must-die-from-tb-its-curable-health-dire.html

Dure Technologies on LinkedIn: We're thrilled to share that we'll be part of an engaging Symposium session with Debriche Health Development Centre (DHDC), ADPP Moçambique, The Global Fund, CAD and Stop TB Partnership, discussing "OneImpact: A Community Led-Monitoring CLM platform for individuals affected by TB" at The Union World Conference on Lung Health.

#endtb #unionconf2023 #lunghealth #paris

Source Link: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dure-technologies_endtb-unionconf2023-lunghealth-activity-7131260307510853633-nnTI

Do you know that with ONEIMPACT PERU you can access medical consultations faster? That is right, because with this application you can schedule your appointment in a few steps, it is extremely easy and free.

#application #tuberculosis #quality #health #ONEIMPACTPERU

Source Link: https://twitter.com/AspatPeru/status/1725317388281774120

First Lady Samina Alvi on Friday said as Pakistan was ranked fifth among the Tuberculosis (TB) high-burden countries, it was necessary for all stakeholders and partners to make the disease an essential element of all primary healthcare and communicable disease control strategies and mechanisms.

The first lady, in her address at the “Tuberculosis Community Rights and Gender Advocacy Seminar”, said it was extremely saddening to learn that there were still 600,000 new TB cases emerging every year.

“48,000 lose their lives which means every single day we are losing 131 precious lives. Based on these statistics, Pakistan is ranked fifth among TB high-burden countries accounting for over 60% of the burden in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region,” she remarked.

She expressed confidence that the Government of Pakistan would ensure its full commitment and determination to bring about a meaningful difference in the fight against TB.

The seminar was organized by DOPASI Foundation in cooperation with End TB Pakistan.

Samina Alvi told the audience that she has been leading the awareness campaign on Breast Cancer which unfortunately was considered a taboo in Pakistan a few years back and women affected by Breast Cancer felt guilt in coming forward or never even realized that they had it until it was too late.

“I am aware that TB has a similar stigma attached to it through my recent interactions with Dopasi Foundation and the Stop TB Partnership, Geneva who have supported in integrating Breast Cancer Module in the OneImpact mobile platform for empowering and engaging affected communities,” she added.

The First Lady confirmed that there has been progress, adding, although, slow and steady – efforts channelized towards the cause have resulted in getting closer to achieving TB control targets, which was an encouraging sign for all of them who hold TB prevention and control close to their heart.

“It is, however, extremely saddening to learn that there are still 600,000 new TB cases emerging every year. 48,000 lose their lives which means every single day we are losing 131 precious lives, she remarked, adding, it clearly indicated that there was still space for more to be done in delivering healthcare services to a sizeable proportion of TB affected population

Source Link: https://dailyspokesman.net/live/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Daily-The-Spokesman-November-26-2022-PDF.pdf

On July 20, 2021, a meeting of TB-REP 2.0 partners implementing community-led monitoring projects was held with the participation of the Stop TB Partnership.

The first part of the event was devoted to experience exchange, problems, solutions and results achieved by working with the OneImpact mobile application in the EECA region. TB-REP 2.0 partners from Azerbaijan (Saglamliga Khidmat), Belarus (Let's Defeat Tuberculosis Together), Georgia (TBpeople Network), Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan Union of People Living with HIV), Kyrgyzstan (AIDS Foundation East-West in the Kyrgyz Republic) and Ukraine (TBPeopleUkraine) shared their reports.

An overview of applying OneImpact in TB-REP 2.0 countries
Over the entire period of OneImpact implementation in 6 countries of the EECA region, almost 5000 users in total have signed in to the applications. More than 3000 requests were received in total, of which more than 87% have already been processed and solved.

The TB-REP 2.0 regional partner team continues to build the capacity of community-led TB monitoring and in 2021 the application was launched in Georgia by the TBpeople Network team. As for Belarus, the application is already working on the national hosting and the funding for next year is included in the application to the Global Fund. In Ukraine, in 2021, the OneImpact mobile application is undergoing transition on a local server.

Among the key challenges that organizations are facing in the implementation of OneImpact in EECA countries are the following:
lack of smartphones and Internet access for potential users, low level of skills in using the phone or difficulty in understanding modern technologies among patients, difficulties in accessing confidential information about patients when processing requests through the application, the need to develop trust in the application by developing successful cases.

But experience with the app has allowed the country teams to come up with a number of solutions. For example, to increase the trainings effectiveness, they began to organize smaller groups of participants or enter into partnerships with doctors in medical institutions who conduct trainings on an individual basis, so that they could pay more attention to each patient whenever possible. In some countries, they began to conclude agreements with patients to obtain the right to transfer their confidential data from medical institutions. Also, countries began to practice telephone consultations for patients and involved doctors as expert consultants to promote the application. Strengthening the implementation of community-led monitoring and a new supporting framework document.

A separate block of the meeting included the presentation of the Framework Document on the concept and implementation of community-led monitoring with OneImpact, which was developed based on the existing experience, lessons learned and is intended to further strengthen the implementation of community-led monitoring (CLM). It was presented by Caoimhe Smyth, Program Manager for the Community, Rights and Gender Support Group (CRG) of the Stop TB Partnership team. In her introduction, she noted that community-based monitoring, which is implemented through OneImpact, is very important in addressing the burden of tuberculosis.

One of the main reasons why TB continues to be an issue today is because people affected by TB are not significantly involved in all aspects of the disease control, she said. Community-led monitoring with OneImpact gives TB affected people the opportunity to access health and support services, assert their rights, and identify and reduce stigma.

OneImpact focuses on barriers linked to TB and services, human rights violations, TB stigma, and barriers to TB support services, Caoimhe said. The key assessment indicators collected by the app use are the following:% of people who reported a TB problem at least once (age, gender, key population group), TB problems and the status of their solution, and the level of satisfaction with the solution ( from community perspective).

As one of the successful examples of advocacy based on information obtained through the application, she cited the case of TBpeopleUkraine, who used information on TB stigma to advocate for TB stigma assessment. The project was scaled up with the Global Fund, USAID, Johnson and Johnson support and the CFCS grant mechanism.

Talking about the lessons learned, she also highlighted that literacy and language barriers are key factors limiting the maximum reach of communities, and therefore innovations such as support module, AI system - virtual interlocutor, social media integration, 2G channel integration will increase the efficiency of the platform.

And of course, the OneImpact platform is flexible, as demonstrated by how quickly it has transformed to meet the needs of COVID and HIV, summed up Caoimhe.

OneImpact helps to heal, study and live: country cases
Another subject of discussion among the participants of the meeting was the use of information received by the means of OneImpact in identifying problems and options for their solutions.

Kyrgyzstan, case of the AIDS Foundation East-West in the Kyrgyz Republic
Problem: An issue was reported by the OneImpact app: The doctor was rude and unfriendly. He also refused to see the patient and insisted on referring him to another medical institution near the patient’s official home residence. But the patient's actual place of residence was situated in a completely different area close to that specific medical institution.

Solution: A street lawyer was brought in to solve the problem. To reconcile the parties, he held a conversation with the patient and the attending doctor with the participation of the deputy chief doctor of the medical institution, at which he constructively explained the rights and obligations of each of the parties.

Result: the person continues the treatment in a health care facility which is territorially convenient to the patient and a constructive doctor-patient dialogue was established.

Ukraine, case TBpeople Ukraine

Problem: the mother of a girl with a "closed" form of tuberculosis contacted the mobile application. The girl was preparing to start the school year at a new school, but daughter and mother did not have local residence registration, which the school administration insisted on. Also, the woman was worried about the status of the child, because the schools insisted on the need for "the commission's confirmation act that the child is not contagious."

Solution: TBpeopleUkraine, having received a request through OneImpact, contacted the local free legal aid center and agreed to a consultation.

Result: after receiving high-quality legal support, which was provided by an employee of the legal aid center, the girl was not only admitted to school but also supported in mastering the school curriculum. Now, the child plans to go to school in September 2021 and to begin her journey into the future.

Source Link: https://pas.md/en/PAS/News/Details/169

As it has been already mentioned, there has been conducted more than 16 trainings on OneImpact app at medical institutions by the "Saglamliga Khidmat" team with the support of the PAS Center, Stop TB Partnership within TB REP 2.0 project.

As a result, more than 200 people have installed applications on their phones and have started using its library of knowledge and capacities.

“It’s very important to note that the majority of users are women, who are often stigmatized and ashamed of TB. And this is a great achievement”, says the representative of Saglamliga Khidmat. “They can now quickly report the barriers they face related to TB through OneImpact Azerbaijan. The App Support Response Team, which includes NTP curators and the Department of Social Welfare are collaborating with us to investigate/resolve issues faced by TB patients. At the same time, the patient organization “Toward TB Free Future” is advocating the provision of social benefits to patients".

Source Link: https://pas.md/en/PAS/News/Details/141