Target TB working in partnership with Zatulet in Zambia

Country/regional profile

Zambia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in Africa. It is land-locked and shares its borders with 8 countries. There are approximately 11 million people living in Zambia, 68% of which live on less than a $1 a day; in rural regions the average is much higher.

TB represents a major health problem in Zambia. In the last 15 years the number TB cases has tripled, mainly as a result of the HIV epidemic and increasing levels of poverty. HIV and TB have a deadly relationship, each speeding up the progress of the other.

Zatulet Volunteer and patient

Community health volunteer Trynes Daka
visits a TB patient in her home to
monitor treatment adherence

Our work with ZATULET

Since 2001 Target TB has been working with Zatulet, a Zambian Non-Governmental Organisation. In 2007 Target TB was awarded a grant from The Big Lottery Fund to implement a 5 year project with Zatulet. The project, which builds on Zatulet’s previous success, involves highly motivated and committed volunteers who work from 8 branches, across 4 provinces of Zambia.

Project Aims

The project aims to reduce the suffering and deaths caused by TB by empowering communities with the knowledge and skills to prevent and treat the disease. The project focuses on increasing peoples' access to TB testing and treatment services, improving the welfare of people affected by TB and raising awareness in the wider population. Through this the project aims to meet and exceed the World Health Organisation's treatment completion and cure rates for its TB beneficiaries.

Project Activities

  • Provide training in TB control activities for 8 local branch sites across Zambia, staffed primarily by community health volunteers.
  • Outreach activities in the local communities identify people with TB symptoms and refer them to the nearest testing and treatment centre.
  • Provide home-based care and support for people affected by TB, including monitoring treatment adherence, providing psychosocial counselling, helping with household chores and establishing TB/HIV support clubs.
  • Inform the public about TB and HIV through activities such as health talks, street drama, one to one counselling and large scale awareness raising events.