A novel research project on integrating tobacco cessation into TB programs using mHealth approach has been inaugurated by MakSPH, CTCA and Ministry of Health Uganda with the aim of improving TB treatment outcomes and increasing quit rates among TB patients in Uganda.  The research project code named mHealth for TB Tobacco: An Approach to reduce tobacco use among TB patients.

The Intervention will use mobile phone text messages to support smoking cessation among TB patients in Uganda under the program name “Quit 4 Life”. Its policy outcome is to develop a guide to integrate tobacco control into TB programs for the African continent. 

According to the Principal Investigator, Associate Professor Elizeus Rutebemberwa, the intervention is an experimental prospective cohort design involving TB patients who use tobacco in 27 health facilities in Uganda. 

The study was inaugurated during an inception meeting for orienting the Directors of the implementing health facilities held at Kabira Country Club, in Kampala on April 19, 2017.  

The project will be implemented through a partnership including; Makerere University School of Public Health, Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa, Ministry of Health, East Tennessee State University USA and WHO. The project is funded by the National Academies of Science in partnership with USAID.