CFH2a Priming - TB & Tobacco PLUS: A plan to integrate and scale up tobacco cessation within TB programmes in Bangladesh and Pakistan

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Unfortunately, many TB patients smoke tobacco and those who do are more likely to die from TB than those who don’t. With the help of a major European Union grant, we are testing activities (counselling and medicines) to help TB patients in Pakistan and Bangladesh to quit smoking. We have found many of these activities effective and we wish to make them widely available. One such activity is to train health workers in counselling skills that support smokers to quit. We plan to implement and scale this up in eight districts in Bangladesh and Pakistan. To this effect, we propose three system changes within TB programmes’ routine: (a) health workers in TB centres are trained in counselling skills; (b) they are supervised by district coordinators, and (c) monitored through routine surveillance system. This will achieve a sustainable impact of our research.