The RTC initiative was originally conceptualized at the first TB Innovation Summit, which was co-organized by the Stop TB Partnership, Johnson & Johnson, United Nations Foundation, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (“Global Fund”), and the World Economic Forum, in advance of the first United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on tuberculosis (TB)in September 2018.

A broad spectrum of in-country and global stakeholders and partners, including Ministries of Health, country programmes, care providers (i.e., public and private, community health workers,etc.), and TB affected people and communities, including TB survivors, came together to discuss the need to modernize our thinking and approach in terms of how healthcare services are accessed and delivered in TB affected countries and the critical role that innovations, particularly digital health technologies can play to catalyze integrated, differentiated, and people-centered care and bring services closer to where the TB affected people and communities are taking into consideration their behaviors, daily routines (i.e., live, work, etc.), and preferences.

Uganda is one of the 30 World Health Organization-designated countries with a high burden of TB and TB/HIV. In 2020, it is estimated that 90,000 people developed TB, of which 29,113
(32%) were missed giving a TB treatment coverage of 68%. Uganda is one of the countries
where COVID-19 pandemic disrupted TB services. It is one of the 16 countries that accounted
for 93% of the drop in global TB notifications between 2019 and 2020 [WHO database].