WARN/CARN-TB supports tuberculosis programs and services in West and Central Africa to tackle the COVID 19 pandemic

In order to support West and Central African countries in their fight against tuberculosis in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic, the WARN/CARN-TB Executive Secretariat (ES) is organizing a series of conference calls for TB program coordinators. These meetings provide a forum for mutual support and solidarity between TB programs, as well as for sharing experiences. The conference calls take place every two weeks on the ZOOM platform and are attended by coordinators and coordination teams from the region’s NTPs, as well as various partners (WHO/TDR, UNION, WAHO, WHO/GTB, etc.). These meetings discuss the challenges faced by TB programs in times of pandemic and the solutions to be found. These meetings have resulted in several decisions currently being implemented, such as the sharing of TB-COVID contingency plans between countries in the region, the creation of a platform for the exchange of drugs and laboratory inputs, the creation of a platform for monitoring TB case notification, and the conduct of an operational research study on the impact of COVID 19 on TB control.
The next conference call is scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 28, 2020.