Connectivity of diagnostic technologies: improving surveillance and accelerating tuberculosis elimination

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• The increasing use of advanced diagnostic tests for tuberculosis (TB) and other epidemics generates vast amounts of digital data.
• This valuable data remains largely unexploited, particularly in resource-limited settings.
• Connectivity solutions are emerging to address the need for data utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss lessons learned from scaling up laboratory diagnostic devices globally.
• To explore pathways for exploiting laboratory-generated information through connectivity for TB control.
• To advocate for a comprehensive approach to diagnostic connectivity.

Main Methods:

• Review of lessons learned from the global scale-up of diagnostic laboratory devices.
• Analysis of third-party connectivity solutions adopted for assays like Xpert® MTB/RIF.
• Discussion of the potential benefits of accessible digital health data.

Main Results:

• Third-party connectivity solutions have been widely adopted, aiding in monitoring laboratory networks.
• Digital information mobility facilitates test result reporting and data sharing from program settings.
• Accessible data can enhance patient care, disease surveillance, and drug discovery.

Conclusions:

• Diagnostic connectivity is essential for a global and comprehensive approach to managing laboratory networks.
• Digital health data from diagnostics should be recognized as a public health good.
• Pooling international TB data is a priority to improve epidemic understanding, response, and accelerate TB elimination.