Zambia Tuberculosis and Leprosy Trust (ZATULET) is a registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) established and registered with the Registrar of Societies in 1998 with the aim of supplementing government efforts in the fight against tuberculosis and leprosy in the country. The establishment of ZATULET was out of the concern by the founders on the high prevalence of TB and pockets of leprosy cases in the community without any immediate solution being provided for by existing health service providers at community level. The organization operates as a legal entity now registered with the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health under the NGOs Act in Zambia (Registration No. 101/0218/14). It is also registered with the Health Professions Council of Zambia to run a community clinic.
ZATULET has been running integrated programmes since 2005 when it added HIV prevention and testing to its TB and Leprosy programmes. Over 2000 clients have been tested. In 2006 the Youth Peer Educators and TB/HIV Co-infected Support Groups were implemented. In September 2010 it added the ART programme and low level of OVC was initiated. A 1,000 clients have been enrolled in the ART and over 800 are on ARVs. We have 2,000 OVC on our list. In 2013 it added a full fledged OVC programme in Kafue urban under the sponsorship of PEPFAR Zambia’s Small Grant. But only 40 (20 girls and 20 boys) were fully supported. The organisation is guided by its goals, vision, mission, and objectives
Objectives
- To increase intensive case-findings and access to quality TB/Leprosy/HIV screening, diagnosis and treatment (DOTS) in order to enhance early diagnosis and treatment
- To mitigate the impact of HIV on OVCs by improving access to basic needs and services such as health, nutrition, education and psychosocial support, protection,, HBC, TB and ART
- To enhance and promote innovative approaches in programming in order to influence governance/policy improvement and strengthen health systems to bring about integration of services and sustainable improvement in TB, TB/HIV/Leprosy activities
- To build capacity of community TB Treatment Supporters Volunteers, Interns and other Volunteers , Health workers and communities in order to provide high quality services and strengthening TB programming and advocacy communication and social mobilisation strategies that enhances quality services delivery in the communities on TB/HIV/AIDS/Leprosy in Zambia
- To learn from our activities through effective operational research, carrying out general research activities and documenting the lessons learnt.
- To intensify resource mobilisation strategies through enhancing income generation activities (IGA) in order to have a strong income base for sustainability purposes.