WARN/CARN-TB supports countries in the region as they tackle COVID-19

The many factors linked to the pandemic, such as the psychosis and stigmatization of COVID-19 patients, the symptomatological similarities shared with TB, the contingency measures taken by national governments, and the prioritization of COVID-19 by international health authorities and partners, had major consequences for the operation of TB programs. Under these conditions, it was urgent to reflect on new approaches in order to preserve the performance of TB programs at national or even regional level in the face of this new threat. Thus, since March 2020, the WARN/CARN-TB Executive Secretariat, with the support of WHO/TDR, has implemented a series of measures to support the region’s NTPs in maintaining TB services. These include:

• Development and provision of an indicative contingency plan to the network, to help countries draw up a national TB-COVID-19 contingency plan.
• Capacity-building for laboratory staff in member countries by the Cotonou SRL through the TB-Lab project.
• The organization of a series of thematic conference calls with the network’s NTP coordination teams, partners and TB experts. Below is a table presenting the various themes addressed and the experts invited.

In addition to these collective measures, the Executive Secretariat has developed and made available to interested countries a tool for monitoring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB case notification, in order to take rapid corrective decisions in TB control strategies.
These various measures contribute to better control of the impact of COVID-19 on TB control in West and Central Africa.