In a mobile deployment of Xpert(®) MTB/RIF (Xpert) at the public event for 2012 South African World TB Day, Xpert testing was offered to tuberculosis (TB) symptomatic clients from gold mining and surrounding communities. Considerations before implementation included effective TB symptom screening; safe, effective sputum collection; uninterrupted electricity supply; stringent instrument verification and provision of on-site results. Public event Xpert testing is feasible; however, the case-finding rate was very low (0.7%). We recommend exploring enhanced symptom screening algorithms to improve pre-test probability, cost-effectiveness analysis, exploring alternate electrical fail-safes and on-site data connectivity and improving management of client expectations.

BACKGROUND: Achieving the 90–90–90 targets for tuberculosis (TB) will require interventions that enhance diagnosis, linkage, treatment and adherence to care. As a first step in the process, our team designed a suite of smartphone applications known as miLINC to improve time from diagnosis to treatment initiation in drug-resistant TB patients.SETTING: Three clinical locations in a large, peri-urban district in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.OBJECTIVE: To assess the acceptability, feasibility and impact of the miLINC mobile health applications as a solution to reducing the time from presentation to treatment initiation of rifampicin-resistant (RR) TB patients.METHODS: We used a prospective, observational quality improvement evaluation of miLINC's impact among newly diagnosed patients with RR-TB.RESULTS: A convenience sample comprising details of 6341 patients with presumptive TB were entered into miLINC. Of the 631 TB-positive sputum specimens, 41 (6.5%) were found to be RR-TB. The mean time from clinical presentation to RR-TB treatment initiation was 3 days, 21 h, 17 min.CONCLUSION: This is the first study to suggest that the time from presentation to diagnosis and to treatment initiation for patients with RR-TB can be significantly improved using an integrated approach combining technology with appropriate human resources.

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Background. Historically, paper-based laboratory reports were delivered by couriers to health facilities resulting in post-analytical delays. As a result, Short Message Service (SMS) printers were deployed to address this gap, the majority using the global data service platform (GDSP) to simplify deployment. In addition, these printers generate binary and quantitative information that can be used to assess utilization. Objectives. The objective of this study was to determine the costs and utilization of the SMS printer program in South Africa. Materials and Methods. A costing analysis for the 2020 calendar year was undertaken. We determined annual equivalent costs (AEC) for staffing, printers, fixed costs related to the national coordinator, consumables, travel costs, database support/hosting/dashboard development, printer repairs, and results transmission. The main outcome of interest was the cost per SMS printer result delivered. Data were extracted to assess utilization as follows: (i) months active (based on internet protocol data), (ii) signal, and (iii) battery strength. Results. There were 4,450,116 results delivered to printers that were situated at 2,232 primary healthcare facilities. An AEC of $687,727 was reported, with a cost per result delivered of $0.1618. The SMS printers contributed 73.52% to the total AEC. Overall, 90% of the printers were GDSP based, of which only 69.5% were determined to be active. The majority of active printers reported a signal strength ≥60% and a battery strength of ≥6 volts. Conclusions. Although the SMS printer program has the potential to reduce post-analytical delays, pathology services should migrate to an end-to-end electronic interface to improve patient care.