Having mainstreamed contact tracing as a best practice in eight countries where we have implemented HIV testing and tuberculosis (TB) services, Jhpiego is now applying our longstanding global expertise to support effective case investigation and contact tracing in Baltimore and around the world to stop the spread of COVID-19.

For example, in Malawi and South Africa, among others, Jhpiego-supported programs are transitioning services to provide COVID-19 contact tracing, in addition to focusing on HIV and TB.

Many of Jhpiego’s HIV testing programs aim to identify between half and three-quarters of all new HIV cases using contact tracing—also known as index testing—demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach in tracking sexual partners of people living with HIV to prevent the spread of this virus and to get people on treatment early.

A Jhpiego-led study in Tanzania revealed a high HIV positivity rate of 62% among tested partners of people living with HIV—many partners did not know they were infected and were referred to care and treatment services.

Jhpiego’s project in Mozambique received accolades for providing the “Best Index Case Testing Coverage in Country” at a 2018 meeting of implementing partners in Washington, D.C. Through this project, Jhpiego tested 382,378 individuals using a combination of mobile testing and index case testing; by February 2020, the project had identified 43,611 people living with HIV.

A separate project in Mozambique offered index testing to military personnel living with HIV; 92% of their spouses and dependents accepted testing and 14% were HIV-positive.

Jhpiego’s TB programs also employ contact tracing as a key strategy for controlling the spread of TB and getting people access to TB testing and treatment. Community health workers and other lay providers deliver sensitive health and HIV/TB exposure information to persons in communities; conduct TB screening and link people to facilities for TB testing and treatment as needed; provide HIV testing, counseling and linkage to care and treatment services for persons who might be at risk for co-infection; and serve as a trusted liaison between families and health care facilities.

Jhpiego has vast experience training and deploying community health workers for TB contact tracing. In Lesotho and Mozambique, for example, Jhpiego’s work has led to TB diagnoses and access to lifesaving treatment for people with confirmed TB infection. This specialized type of outreach and follow-up requires a dedicated, persistent and skilled workforce that, supported by Jhpiego and partners, shares our commitment to saving lives, improving health and transforming futures—the type of workforce that is needed to contain the spread of COVID-19.