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TB Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Training
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are three times more likely to be infected by TB than the general public and six times more likely to be hospitalized with drug-resistant TB. The mortality rate in healthcare workers is also high, as up to a third of HCWs may end up dying from drug-resistant TB.
TB Proof was founded in 2012 by HCWs who were personally affected by TB or who worked closely with TB patients. We are passionate about TB Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). Healthcare facilities should be safe places of health and healing, and not hotspots where TB spreads. We need HCWs for our dream of a TB free South Africa.
'Are you TB Proof?' Online tool
We created an online package that makes it easy for anyone to facilitate a ‘Are you TB Proof?’ session at their facility – have a look at our facilitator’s guide, participant worksheet and quiz that you can use! Click on the links below to download.
You can also follow this link to do an online version of the quiz that will provide immediate feedback on your answers.
Aims
Advocate for safe healthcare environments for health workers and communities.
International-level
Videos:
TB Proof members featured in an award-winning documentary ‘Unmasked’, where they shared their experiences with occupational TB and the advocacy that has followed.
Guideline input:
TB Proof members participated as part of the international External Review Group for the WHO 2019 guidelines on TB IPC and we provided input for the ‘Stop TB Partnership Key Populations Brief: Health Care Workers’.
Conferences:
At the Union conference, TB Proof members advocated for TB IPC and safe healthcare environments in scientific presentations and through sharing experiences with occupational TB at multiple sessions.
Project Achievements
- Health worker training on TB Infection Prevention and Control.
We partnered with medical schools and hospitals throughout South Africa to make health facilities TB Proof. In 2019, the TB Proof ‘Are you TB Proof?’ IPC online tool was presented at facilities across South Africa and participants included CHWs, health students, health professionals and home based carers.
Over 10 000 healthcare workers in South Africa have received our online training. By screening this tool at the University of the Free State, University of Pretoria and the University of Stellenbosch, healthcare workers were made aware of their risk of contracting TB. Click here to watch our ‘Are you TB Proof?’ training video to learn about infection prevention and control.
- Amplification of health workers’ voices to advocate for safe healthcare environments.
Photo caption: TB Proof members joined by Lucica Ditiu, executive director at Stop TB Partnership and civil society representatives at the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Hyderabad, India.
Project Achievements
- Health worker training on TB Infection Prevention and Control.
We partnered with medical schools and hospitals throughout South Africa to make health facilities TB Proof. In 2019, the TB Proof ‘Are you TB Proof?’ IPC online tool was presented at facilities across South Africa and participants included CHWs, health students, health professionals and home based carers.
Over 10 000 healthcare workers in South Africa have received our online training. By screening this tool at the University of the Free State, University of Pretoria and the University of Stellenbosch, healthcare workers were made aware of their risk of contracting TB. Click here to watch our ‘Are you TB Proof?’ training video to learn about infection prevention and control.
- Amplification of health workers’ voices to advocate for safe healthcare environments.
Photo caption: TB Proof members joined by Lucica Ditiu, executive director at Stop TB Partnership and civil society representatives at the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Hyderabad, India.
International-level
Guideline input:
TB Proof members participated as part of the international External Review Group for the WHO 2019 guidelines on TB IPC and we provided input for the ‘Stop TB Partnership Key Populations Brief: Health Care Workers’.
Conferences:
At the Union conference, TB Proof members advocated for TB IPC and safe healthcare environments in scientific presentations and through sharing experiences with occupational TB at multiple sessions.
Videos:
TB Proof members featured in an award-winning documentary ‘Unmasked’, where they shared their experiences with occupational TB and the advocacy that has followed.
Watch these training videos developed for health workers about occupational health and infection control. The videos have been made in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the National Department of Health and features Dr Helene-Mari van der Westhuizen, a medical doctor and infection control researcher at Oxford University.
What do TB and COVID-19 infection control measures have in common?
COVID-19 and TB both spread via the air, so we have an unique opportunity to change the way we prevent the spread of disease in healthcare facilities. Watch this video to find out more.
Health worker 'heroes' and their right to a safe workplace
During the COVID-19 pandemic, health workers have been described as ‘heroes’ for working on the frontlines. But could this perspective be harmful for the occupational health of health workers?
The role of health workers in the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out
How have COVID-19 vaccines been developed so rapidly? And why is getting the vaccine more than just a personal decision? Let’s explore this further.
National-level: Key stakeholder meetings
- TB Proof provided key inputs to the draft National Policy on Occupational Health for Healthcare Workers in Respect of HIV and TB.
- We advocated for release of the Occupational Health policy which still remains in draft. An article, ‘A convenient untruth: The TB Proof healthcare worker’ was published by TB Proof in Spotlight.
Photo caption: The Union’s TB Ambassador, Claire Forlani together with TB Leaders & Civil Society united to #EndTB.
Advocacy letters
TB Proof partnered with AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) to develop a
Position Statement about the release of the occupational HIV and TB policy, signed by 130
individuals and organisations, including provincial TB programme representatives (International TB conference, Durban, 2018).
TB Proof developed two advocacy letters that were shared with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Mkhize on 26 May 2020, calling for occupational protection for all health workers, including CHWs.
Our advocacy projects
CHW TB Champions
A community health worker (CHW) is a representative of a specific community. They have earned the communities’ trust to enter their homes and assist them to improve their health status.
#UnmaskStigma Campaign
Stigma is a term describing the feeling of being ashamed, or experiencing societal disapproval in the way that other people treat you.
All oral drug-resistant TB Treatment
For many years patients were given a difficult choice: die because of drug resistant TB or become deaf as a results of the treatment.
Latent TB Treatment
Some people may have latent TB – where some is infected by the TB bacteria but they do not show TB symptoms and cannot infect others.