Optimizing the efficiency of household contact tracing for TB control in South Africa

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Contact tracing in a household of person with TB is a well-known method for finding other people with TB earlier. Other benefits include the opportunity for HIV testing and linking people with HIV to health care. There are problems with the approach including high costs, difficulties with finding household members and differences in the number of people with TB found. Primary health care is currently being reorganised in South Africa. The new approach includes local outreach teams that deliver home and community based health services. Household contract tracing could be combined into these new teams.Our project uses different research methods to develop, implement and evaluate a combined model of household contact tracing, potentially using the new outreach teams. In Phase I we aim to understand more about the local outreach teams, and find out ways to help implement a new combined model household contact tracing. In Phase II, the new model will be implemented in three different districts in South Africa. In Phase III we will analyse our data to see if the new combined model is practicable, and can it find other household members with TB and allow an opportunity to test people for HIV and link people with HIV to health care. We will also collect costs of the new model.