The Ethiopian team of Opt4TPT, a three-year programmatic assessment of Tuberculosis Preventive Treatment (TPT) delivery, started enrolment of participants on 25 August 2021, at Arada Health Centre. As of 13 January 2022, 667 participants have been enrolled. The participants enrolled in the study will be provided with the three months preventive treatment regimen (taken once a week for 12 weeks) known as 3HP, containing Isoniazid (INH) and Rifapentine (RPT) or six months of Isoniazid Prevention Treatment (IPT) regimen.
According to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2021, only 42% of PLHIV who are eligible had accessed and initiated TPT in Ethiopia.
Therefore, the study population are adults receiving HIV care. By following PLHIV prospectively, and directly observing service delivery in health facilities, Opt4TPT’s approach is expected to detect new knowledge regarding the routine use of TPT, as well as outcomes during and on completing TPT.
The public health centres used as Opt4TPT study sites are Yeka Health Center in Yeka sub-city, Arada Health Center in Arada sub-city and Meri Health Center in Bole sub-city. As part of a routine program, all clinical care and management of patients will be provided by health centre staff members. The study participants will be followed for 24 months with clinical record abstraction, interviews, and TB investigations at 12 and 24 months.
Study results
The Opt4TPT study will create more understanding of TPT uptake and completion amongst the patients and delivery from health systems. The study outcomes will provide an informed decision to the policymakers to improve service delivery and the scale-up of TPT and to reduce the suffering caused by TB.
Read more about the Opt4TPT here.
