The Dubai Center started the HALT-TB project. In Peru, the case notification rate of TB has slowly decreased in recent years even though there is a high burden of multidrug-resistant TB. It is clear that active case finding is needed in order to stop the spread of such a serious and life-threatening condition. HALT-TB focuses on c
ommunity-based screening and treatment of all forms of TB: active TB disease, multi-drug resistant TB, and TB infection that has not yet progressed to active disease.
Through the use of mobile X-ray vans to perform chest X-ray screening, the HALT-TB program reduced barriers to screening and treatment initiation for the communities of Carabayllo, Comas and Independencia, three districts in Lima with a population of approximately one million. Working alongside the Ministry of Health in Lima, the team incorporated the global best practices in TB testing and treatment and evaluated the feasibility of a program like this with the hopes of scaling up the intervention. Through this project, 50,000 individuals were screened via chest X-ray and 1,000 close contacts of individuals with active TB disease were evaluated for TB infection and disease.