Epidemiological trends in TB during a technical assistance project, Zambia, 2015-2018.

SETTING

Three health facilities: Chongwe Health Centre (CHC), Chongwe District Hospital (CDH), and Ngwerere Health Centre (NHC) in Chongwe District, Lusaka Province, Zambia.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the epidemiological trend of TB in 2015-2018, with the 2014 data as baseline.

DESIGN

This was an observational study.

RESULTS

At CHC, CDH, and NHC, 457, 851 and 85 cases, respectively, of all types of TB were registered in 2014-2018. The numbers of patients with presumptive TB at CHC and CDH increased from 606 and 406, respectively, in 2014 to 1068 and 1848, respectively, in 2018. The proportion of patients with bacteriologically positive TB among patients with presumptive TB decreased at CHC and CDH from over 10% in 2014 to less than 5% in late 2018. The treatment success rates decreased at CHC and CDH in 2017 from respectively 93.7% and 93.0% in 2014 to 69.1% and 73.0% in 2017. GeneXpert equipment was installed at CHC in 2016 and CDH in 2017.

CONCLUSION

After introducing GeneXpert equipment at CHC and CDH, the proportion of bacteriologically-positive TB among presumptive TB significantly decreased because of the high number of patients with presumptive TB screened; however, it may have also caused treatment success rates to have stumbled.