Rachel Royce, PhD, MPH, from RTI International, will be presenting new data from the study, called ?Addressing Tuberculosis (TB) among African Americans in the Southeast: Identifying and Overcoming Barriers to Treatment Adherence for Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) and TB Disease.?
The study, conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination and RTI International, is a multi-phase research project developed to understand the individual, institutional, and community-level barriers and facilitators to TB control in African Americans in the southeastern region of the U.S.
Nationally, the TB rate among African Americans is more than eight times the rate among whites and has been for some time. Over one-third of the TB cases in African Americans are in the southeastern United States.
During the first phase of this study, researchers gathered information about knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about TB from six perspectives: TB patients, people with latent TB infection, at-risk individuals, and TB community leaders, providers and health departments who serve TB patients, people with latent TB infection, and at-risk individuals, through individual interviews and focus group discussions.
Dr. Royce will present study results gathered from one rural community and two urban communities in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.
She noted, ?Unless new action is taken we will miss the Healthy People 2010 TB goals in the African-American community. Our findings, along with the research of others will help us develop effective interventions to address TB prevention and control in the African-American community and help close the gap for the elimination of TB.?
Data from the first phase will be used to develop and implement the intervention phase that aims to help reduce the disparity of TB among African Americans in the southeastern U.S.