A Tuberculosis (TB) free US?

Blessing Dube, MPH 

Manager of Epidemiology and Data Services

“Wanted: Leaders for a TB –free world” is this year’s theme for World TB Day! Early last year, I participated in a strategy and visioning workshop here at the Institute for Community Health (ICH). My group envisioned successfully co-leading an initiative aimed at eradicating TB in the US and making the headlines as award recipients who collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was a fun activity, and as I pondered over this exercise, I realized the US might actually be at the brink of eliminating TB!

In the US, the trend for new TB cases has been decreasing from 52.6 cases per 100,000 persons in 1953 to 2.9 cases per 100,000 persons in 2016, as shown in the chart above. We have made a steady progress largely due to the promotion of best practices in managing patients with TB, directly observing patients to improve adherence, as well as reducing TB drug resistance.

I believe my group’s vision was not too far from reality. In fact, ICH is currently evaluating a Massachusetts Department of Public Health three-year demonstration project that aims at scaling up latent TB infection (LTBI) testing and treatment among high-risk populations. The implementing partner is Lynn Community Health Center, in Lynn MA. As evaluators, we are utilizing mixed methods to gather data to monitor progress towards the goal, understand  challenges, and record lessons learned, so that the key findings from this initiative can be disseminated and spearhead a bundle of best practices for increasing testing and treatment for LTBI in the US. The ultimate goal of this project is to promote the sustainability of these efforts, so that they can replicated in similar health care settings. The hope is to accelerate the progress towards TB elimination in this country.

Here is a video on 5 Things to know about TB

Video shared by CDC

As we commemorate World TB day, and in the spirit of ‘Wakanda’, I challenge you today to leave a comment and your thoughts about what we can do to eliminate TB. How can we engage the public and private sectors in eliminating TB? Trivia question: which year do you think the US will eliminate TB?  

International Women’s Day: Where it came from and where it is going

Abigail Tapper, MPH Research Associate

International Women’s Day is a celebration of women across the globe.  The roots of the day are found in the oppression of women and the fight for the right to vote in the United States, and have evolved into a force for socio-political change around the world.

History

International Women’s Day first came out of the United States’ women’s movement starting in 1908.  Following the momentum of 15,000 women marching through the streets of New York City, National Women’s Day began to be celebrated in the US in 1909.  At the International Conference of Working Women in 1910, attendees voted unanimously to create an International Women’s Day. It was celebrated for the first time in 1911.  According to the website for the day, “More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination”.

In 1975, the United Nation’s celebrated International Women’s Day for the first time and the holiday was reinvigorated with the invention of the internet and international data sharing.  Today it is celebrated around the world with parades and marches to increase women’s visibility across numerous sectors and continue the fight for women’s rights.¹

The Institute for Community Health (ICH)

ICH is a nonprofit consulting firm that provides participatory evaluation, applied research, and planning for hospitals, health centers, health departments, and community-based organizations.   ICH strongly believes in the power of collaborative work for collective change, and strives to work to create gender equity through health.

Program Spotlight: Bridges to Moms

ICH is currently working with Health Care Without Walls to evaluate their Bridges to Moms program.  Bridges to Moms provides a variety of social services to homeless women who are pregnant or new mothers. The program supports women throughout their pregnancies and after.  Activities include case management, health education, housing assistance, and securing transportation, food, and baby supplies. Bridges to Moms works to ensure that women and babies have primary care providers after birth, have transportation to appointments, and are supported during the first year of the baby’s life. ICH is evaluating the Bridges to Moms program by conducting interviews with participants and facilitating staff focus groups, as well as using medical records to compare birth outcomes between Bridges to Moms participants and others who have delivered at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. ICH is helping Bridges to Moms understand the impact that they have on the women they work with, as well as understanding how the program can be strengthened to meet participant needs.  

Bridges to Moms was started by Roseanna Means, MD, a warrior for social justice and one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes.² Dr. Means, the dedicated staff of Bridges to Moms, the program beneficiaries, and the ICH evaluators together demonstrate the power of women-led programming and collaborative evaluation in advancing gender equity.

Sources
1.   All information about International Women’s Day came from https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
2.  http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/01/20/cnnheroes.means.homeless.clinics/index.html