The City of Columbus is set to approve a $2.1 million grant to fund Franklin County’s tuberculosis control program for 2022.
Over the last two decades, the county has reported more cases of tuberculosis compared to the rest of the state. Last year, 3.6 cases per 100,000 residents were reported. That’s compared to a rate of 1.2 cases per 100,000 residents in the rest of the state.
The Ben Franklin Tuberculosis Control Program is a function of Columbus Public Health. It oversees these cases for the county. Spokesperson Kelli Newman said the program relies on annual funding from the county.
“We do have effective programs in place for identifying cases and effectively treating them," she said. "That’s why it’s important to continue to fund this program.”
Services also include home-based patient visits, evaluations for newly arrived refugees and immigrants, tests for at-risk children and services for close contacts.
In 2021, services included testing 1,096 Columbus City, Worthington and Dublin school children at high risk for tuberculosis infection, 1,763 home-based patient visits, and 11,267 directly observed therapy encounters.
It also provided medical care and case management for 132 tuberculosis disease patients, of which 48 were new cases reported in 2021, and evaluation for 61 newly arrived refugees and immigrants. Patients are billed through insurance but are not turned away if they cannot pay or are uninsured.
The city council will approve the $2.1 million grant at Monday night’s city council meeting.
