The purpose of the cooperative agreement is to ensure core Tuberculosis (TB) program activities are implemented to meet the needs of TB prevention, control, and elimination throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. These activities will align with National TB Program and Healthy People 2030 objectives.
Kentucky (KY) is applying for the Tuberculosis Elimination and Laboratory Cooperative Agreement (CoAg). Priority-based approach activities to be undertaken throughout the project period are intended to improve the coordination of Tuberculosis prevention & control and laboratory services at the state and local levels.
The KY TB Program (KTP) will address the following primary goals for the three program components (Prevention & Control, Human Resource Development, and Lab) for Year One of the project period:
• Continue progress towards meeting National TB program objectives and performance targets by using monitoring systems such as the National TB Indicators Project (NTIP).
• Continue to identify individuals with suspected or confirmed TB disease and ensure standard and appropriate treatment regimens.
• Continue to elicit contacts who are exposed to infectious TB and ensure that they are examined for TB or latent TB infection.
• Continue to demonstrate through program evaluation how the achievement of project outcomes builds a stronger evidence base for specific interventions, and drives continuous program improvement through planning and implementation of strategies and activities.
• Continue timely assessment and reporting of all confirmed TB cases; prompt detection, investigation of, and response to possible TB outbreaks; and identification of surveillance infrastructure gaps and system needs.
• Continue to strengthen capacity of TB programs and other partners to prevent and control TB through improved training, education, communications, and information dissemination. Develop and implement human resource development activities, and collaborate with organizations and providers serving high-risk populations.
• Continue to ensure availability of reliable, timely laboratory services, and use of recommended conventional and molecular methodologies for the isolation of, identification of, sequencing of, and susceptibility testing for M. tuberculosis complex.
Federal funding for will allow for continued and new activities that be measured by evaluation of progress toward short-term and intermediate outcomes outlined in the funding announcement. Progress toward these short-term and intermediate outcomes will lead to a decreased TB incidence overall and among those populations at higher risk and those disproportionately affected by TB disease and TB infection.
