Dr Jeremy Hill is a medical doctor and public health specialist with experience across the breadth of TB clinical management, strategy, implementation and research primarily in high burden, low resource settings. Jeremy is currently the country lead for the PEARL project in South Tarawa, Kiribati and is passionate about global ambition and local action to eliminate TB and the impact on individuals, families and communities.
This is the first longitudinal subnational assessment of TB epidemiology in Kiribati. The findings emphasise the importance of geographically disaggregated surveillance to guide targeted responses. Reducing TB transmission in South Tarawa, while maintaining equity and access in remote outer islands, is essential to achieve national TB control goals. Key lessons also apply to other small island states with dispersed populations.
Source: Conference 2024Comprehensive screening using digital X-ray and sputum Xpert can identify more people with TB earlier, in comparison to symptom-only approaches. Higher screening yield in older age cohorts with X-ray reflects a higher burden of disease and sputum collection difficulties. In younger age cohorts, there was an additional benefit from sputum screening. These real-world findings may guide future mass TB screening programmes.
Source: Conference 2024