Factors Affecting the Transition from Paper to Digital Data Collection for Mobile Tuberculosis Active Case Finding in Low Internet Access Settings in Pakistan.

Between September 2020 and March 2021, Mercy Corps piloted hybrid digital (CAPI) and paper-based (PAPI) data collection as part of its tuberculosis (TB) active case finding strategy. Data were collected using CAPI and PAPI at 140 TB chest camps in low Internet access areas of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in Pakistan. PAPI data collection was performed primarily during the camp and entered using a tailor-performed CAPI tool after camps.

Satisfaction Level of Tuberculosis Patients Regarding Their Access to TB Care and Prevention Services, Delivered Through a Public-Private Mix Model in Pakistan.

Objective: The private healthcare providers (PHCP) are believed to improve access to healthcare services in public-private mix (PPM) projects, as they are considered first point of contact for healthcare. The purpose of this study was to determine the satisfaction level of tuberculosis (TB) patients.

Design: A questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study was carried out during November and December 2017 for 572 under-treatment patients registered with PHCPs in the PPM project.

What can motivate Lady Health Workers in Pakistan to engage more actively in tuberculosis case-finding?

Background: Many interventions to motivate community health workers to perform better rely on financial incentives, even though it is not clear that monetary gain is the main motivational driver. In Pakistan, Lady Health Workers (LHW) are responsible for delivering community level primary healthcare, focusing on rural and urban slum populations. There is interest in introducing large-scale interventions to motivate LHW to be more actively involved in improving tuberculosis case-finding, which is low in Pakistan.

3Ts of low cure rate: taxonomy, themes and theory of low cure rate in Pakistan's TB control programme and gathering a 360-degree perspective through qualitative, in-depth interviewing approach.

Objective: WHO recommends cure of tuberculosis (TB) as the best prevention strategy; however, information about factors associated with low cure rate in patients with drug-susceptible TB is limited in Pakistan. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the factors that account for low TB cure rate.

Methodology: The present qualitative study recruited diverse informants through purposive sampling to explore low cure rate situation in Badin between March and June 2017.

Loss-to-follow-up and delay to treatment initiation in Pakistan's national tuberculosis control programme.

Background: Researchers and policy-makers have identified loss to follow-up as a major programmatic problem. Therefore, the objective of this study is to quantify TB related pre-treatment loss to follow up and treatment delay in private sector health care facilities in Pakistan.

Methods: This was a retrospective, descriptive cohort study using routinely collected programmatic data from TB referral, diagnosis and treatment registers.

Analysis of misoprostol and chlorhexidine policy gains in Pakistan: the advocacy experience of Mercy Corps Pakistan.

While Pakistan has made progress toward achieving Millennium Development Goal 5 for maternal health, it is unlikely to achieve the target; further, it is also not on track for Millennium Development Goal 4 regarding child health. Two low-cost, temperature stable and life-saving drugs, misoprostol and chlorhexidine, can respectively avert maternal and newborn deaths, and are particularly pertinent for poor and marginalized areas which bear the brunt of maternal and newborn deaths in Pakistan. In response, Mercy Corps led focused advocacy efforts to promote changes in policies, protocols, and regulatory environments for misoprostol (2012-2014) and for chlorhexidine (2014).

Evaluating the efficacy of tuberculosis Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilization (ACSM) activities in Pakistan: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a major public health and development problem within many low- and middle-income countries. Although Advocacy, Communication and Social Mobilization (ACSM) activities have been undertaken in high TB burden countries to remediate these issues, there is little empirical evidence of the efficacy of these approaches. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the efficacy of an ACSM program undertaken within Pakistan.