ABSTRACT
India's National Tuberculosis (TB) Elimination Program strategically involves private providers to achieve its 2025 goal of ending TB. The government's patient-provider support agency scheme (PPSA) aims to expand the Public-Private Mix (PPM) strategy using domestic resources, though challenges persist in cross-learning and documentation. The TB Public Private Mix Learning Network (TBPPM-LN) launched its India chapter in 2021, connecting PPM stakeholders virtually. With 600 + members, TBPPM-India, acting as a digital Community of Practice, is pivotal in fostering a learning culture, leading knowledge-sharing initiatives, and disseminating TBPPM field innovations, contributing significantly to India's intensified efforts against TB.
ABSTRACT
Despite being curable and preventable, tuberculosis (TB) affected 10 million people worldwide in 2020. In the seven highest TB burden countries, private providers account for more than two-thirds of initial care seeking. Closing gaps and finding the "missing people" with TB requires engagement of the private sector for better diagnostics and treatment. This review explores the efforts of a public-private partnership to enhance TB diagnostics in Nigeria, covering logistics and the distribution of GeneXpert machines and other diagnostic tools. Over three years, the Nigerian "hub and spoke" model led to a 28-fold increase in referrals of people with presumed TB in private diagnostic facilities. Various stakeholders' perspectives are also included, providing insight into opportunities and challenges of working with the private sector in this effort. As countries tackle the setbacks brought by COVID-19 and move towards reaching the End TB targets, partnerships such as these can strengthen the foundations of health systems.