Finding hard-to-reach tuberculosis patients has been a skill that some organizations in Pakistan — which has one of the highest TB burdens in the world — have been working to perfect.
When a TB patient is detected too late, it often means grappling with a more severe case that has already spread throughout the community. This makes active case finding — health workers seeking out people with tuberculosis as opposed to waiting for people to show up at a clinic with symptoms — an effective way to manage the disease in the worst-hit places.
Organizations in the Stop TB Partnership's TB REACH initiative have been experimenting with different ways on how to do this more effectively. That includes bringing portable X-ray machines to coal mines and brick kilns to screen the workers who are at heightened risk.