Department of Programme Support
The major roles of the department are as follows: (1) to provide the national tuberculosis (TB) control programme (NTP) with technical support in TB control at the national, provincial, and local levels, (2) to contribute to the NTP in development of human resources, (3) to raise awareness about TB among both professionals and the general public.
Technical assistance
The department takes consultations from health and administrative staff at all levels in terms of the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of TB; contact investigations; and patient support through technical meetings, telephone calls, faxes, and emails. Sometimes, the RIT staff members attend the technical meetings on TB outbreaks and contact investigations to provide technical assistance.
Training
The RIT is the only institute in Japan that provides the officials and clinicians with training on TB control. RIT has conducted training for various types of staff members such as medical officers, clinicians, public health/clinical nurses, radiology technologists, laboratory technologists, and senior administrative staff.
Alumni meetings of TB experts from the provincial/local governments and TB hospitals trained at the RIT have been held every year. At these meetings, local situations and challenges are discussed, possible solutions are proposed, and recommendations for the NTP are made. The alumni network of TB experts is quite useful in collaborating with each other to assist local NTPs.
Raising awareness about TB
Various meetings are also held for education and training purposes: the International TB Seminars, Meetings for Promotion in NTP, and the Regional TB Training Courses are held every year to provide new knowledge and encourage sharing experiences on TB control. To raise awareness about TB, the department also provides information on the latest research and various relevant topics through RIT website, such as the fact sheet on TB, DOTS strategy, TB contact investigations, BCG, and programmes for high-risk groups, among others.
Up-to-date information on research and new strategies for TB control is displayed in the booth at the Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Public Health. The department is divided into three divisions based on expertise to meet its terms of reference: 1) Division of Planning and Training for Medical officers, 2) Division of Training for Public Health Nurses, and 3) Division of Training for Radiology Technologists.
