Community Empowerment of People Against Tuberculosis (CEPAT)

The Challenge

Indonesia ranks fifth among the world’s 22 high-burden TB countries. TB is still stigmatized in the southeast Asia country, and only 21% of Indonesians are aware of the risks of TB or how to properly treat it. The country lacks a comprehensive and coordinated approach to engage communities in supporting TB services by, for example, helping to identify TB suspects or supporting patients’ treatment adherence. Community systems there have limited capacity to raise public awareness of TB and increase demand for quality TB services.

Overview and Objectives

CEPAT worked at the community level, engaging religious leaders, with support from partner Lembaga Kesehatan Nahdlatul Ulama (LKNU), the largest Muslim organization worldwide. CEPAT coordinated the TB community support model with TB activities in the health system, ensuring a continuum of care of TB patients from the health system to the community, strengthening TB prevention and control efforts.

The project is working to:

• Improve TB prevention in CEPAT provinces by focusing on early identification and treatment of TB patients in the community.
• Improve patients’ TB care-seeking behavior by increasing their awareness of TB symptoms; reducing the stigma associated with TB; and promoting community mobilization to seek free, quality TB care. This awareness raising will result from the development and implementation of a targeted Advocacy, Communication, and Social Mobilization (ACSM) strategy.
• Engage Ulamas (religious leaders) to target vulnerable groups, such as women and the poor.
• Improve TB diagnosis in the community by conducting active TB contact tracing in the households of TB patients and carry out early identification of TB suspects by TB symptom screening at village health meetings (Posyandu) and religious meetings (Pengajian), and in the workplace and schools.
• Improve adherence to quality TB treatment by providing counseling on treatment adherence and infection control measures for patients and directly observed therapy providers and by facilitating peer TB support groups for TB patients.
• Use mobile technology to remind TB patients of their health appointments.
• Implement community quality groups to monitor the quality of TB services provided from the patient perspective (Patients’ Rights Charter)
• Advocate with local governments and relevant stakeholders for increasing funds and resources to support TB control efforts.