Minsa strengthens active search for tuberculosis cases in Metropolitan Lima

This announcement originally appeared on 7 October 2020 in DPCTB. The original article may be viewed here.

Massive screening campaign carried out in San Juan de Miraflores will be replicated in 13 more districts.

Timely detection of cases of tuberculosis (TB) to guarantee the treatment against this disease was the primary objective of the health intervention announced today by the Ministry of Health (MINSA), in favor of the vulnerable population of the San Juan de Miraflores district.

With the help of the Integrated Health Management Network (DIRIS) Lima Sur and the city, specialists of the sector also announced counseling for the prevention of TB illness as well as services which properly rule out TB, including chest x-rays, through the mobile units of the NGO Socios en Salud.

The doctor Julia Ríos, the MINSA director of TB Control and Prevention of, maintained that these campaigns prioritize the persons who have had contact with family members, friends, and acquaintance affected by TB, every time they have high risk of becoming sick.

Likewise, the health intervention aligns with the plan to decrease the gap in detection of cases of TB among people living with HIV­-AIDS, diabetes mellitus, and children, among other vulnerabilities.

“It is important to stop the gap in detecting cases, because a large number of people undiagnosed with TB who may be contagious. For this reason, in these campaigns all contacts of TB patients come to receive a radiological screening and a molecular test to rule out the disease,” she says.

She emphasized that the plan of the intervention also responds to the need to tend to a population that has been affected during the pandemic by mandatory isolation and the overall situation of health.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it clear that the way of delivering treatment for TB had to change. If before, patients were going to the health centers to receive their medicines, now the strategy was to organize three groups: those who receive oral treatment for drug-susceptible TB, those with extremely drug-resistant TB and who receive treatment in their home, and finally, a small group (400 in the total country) who need injectable drugs. With this method, treatment was guaranteed,” emphasized Dra Rios.

At this date, they have carried out 20 interventions for active case finding, and the prioritized districts are La Victoria, Lima Cercado, San Juan de Lurigancho, Ate, Santa Anita, El Agustino, Lurigancho Chosica, Carabayllo, Rímac, Comas, Villa El Salvarod, Villa Maria del Triunfo, San Juan de Miraflores, and Surco.