Cambodia - Development of National Guidelines for TB Diagnosis

Development of national guidelines for TB diagnosis

Date: July 2016 - August 2017

Location: Cambodia

Client: USAID / Challenge TB

Type of services:

Developed national tuberculosis diagnostic guidelines for the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control (CENAT).

Report(s):

[11 Jul 2016] At the start of July we organized a workshop and discussions with members of the National Tuberculosis Program and the National TB Reference Laboratory in Cambodia to revise their National Laboratory Guideline.

TB diagnosis: a rapidly changing field

Laboratory diagnosis is crucial for TB control, not only to confirm clinical diagnosis, but also to determine whether the infecting TB bacterium is sensitive for the standard drugs used and whether the treatment is killing the bacteria which are present.

In recent years a whole new array of test methods became available: LED fluorescent microscopy, liquid culture, GeneXpert and various (other) methods) of molecular testing. As these methods are being introduced, the national TB laboratory networks need to update their laboratory guidelines and diagnostic testing algorithms and prepare new standard operating procedures and training modules for the successful implementation of these new methods.

Our assistance to the Cambodia National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP)

At the request of ChallengeTB, the KNCV and the implementing partner in Cambodia, FHI360, we assisted the NTP in drafting an outline for their new laboratory guideline and making an action plan for writing, proofreading, field testing and finally printing of this updated guideline by the end of 2016. 

[17 Jan 2018] During a workshop held in Siem Reap, national CENAT experts and partners reviewed the draft guidelines and helped to make them more relevant to the Cambodian context.

Next steps include a capacity-building visit, during which a senior member of CENAT laboratory staff will visit the DATOS office in the Netherlands to learn about guideline development, and a second workshop in Cambodia, where the reviewed documents will be finalized. 

[8 Mar 2018] DATOS experts have been working on the development of national tuberculosis laboratory technical procedures documents for use by the National Tuberculosis Program (CENAT) of Cambodia. This work is being done as part of the Challenge TB project, and in collaboration with the FHI360 country office in Cambodia. DATOS developed a draft general document outlining the functioning of the Cambodian TB laboratory network, along with technical procedures documents for smear microscopy, culture and DST, and Xpert MTB/RIF testing.

These documents were reviewed by CENAT experts and partners in Siem Reap in January 2018. Feedback provided during this workshop was incorporated to make the documents fully relevant for the Cambodian context. A second workshop was held, with the same participants, in Kampot on 28th February and 1st March, during which the changes made were reviewed, and final edits were suggested prior to the finalization of the English language versions. These will then be translated into Khmer before approval by the CENAT, and distribution throughout the Cambodian tuberculosis network.

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