Biography
Catherine Hewison is a medical doctor, working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) since 1997, and since 2005 as a tuberculosis advisor in the Operational Centre Paris, supporting MSF projects worldwide on different aspects of tuberculosis diagnosis, management and associated research. She is also the leader of the MSF TB working group since 2020, representing MSF internationally and coordinating MSF TB activities. She has a particular interest in new drugs for drug resistant tuberculosis treatment and is involved in the endTB project, and in the management of TB in children, initiating the multicounty project TACTiC (Test Avoid Cure TB in Children).
Key Impacts
Person-centered solution to repeat sputum collection increases TB diagnosis in Manila, Philippines
A decentralized approach to sputum recollection is patient centered and effectively increases TB diagnosis in an impoverished and densely populated area. This intervention highlights the importance of adaptable, patient-centered strategies in addressing public health challenges, which may be replicated elsewhere and be scaled up through local partnerships and capacity building of community health workers to conduct sputum collection.
Source: Conference 2024
Large burden of asymptomatic TB detected with chest X-ray and computer-aided detection software
During ACF, most treatment-naive people with BCTB report no TB symptoms. Symptom screening may not be cost-effective when systematically screening with CXR and CAD. In high-risk populations, symptom-agnostic screening strategies with CXR and CAD are important to detect people with asymptomatic TB, who possibly drive community transmission.
Source: Conference 2024