We are recruiting three (3) PhD students to join the CAGE-TB programme, a multidisciplinary consortium supported by a grant from the European Commission and Coordinated by Stellenbosch University. CAGE-TB brings together African and European scientists to develop a mobile phone-based cough triage test for Tuberculosis (TB).
The Cough Audio triaGE for TB (CAGE-TB) project aims at promoting the adoption of mobile health-based cough audio triage testing for active pulmonary tuberculosis in health facilities in high-burden settings. Specifically the study aims are; a.) to generate and separately validate a cough audio classifier that meets the criteria for the World Health Organization (WHO) triage test target product profile for sensitivity and specificity, b.) to produce data on potential cost savings, and c.) to package the underlying technology into an easy-to-use smartphone app built using human-centered design ready-for-use in large-scale clinical evaluations. It will do so through:
- Collecting cough audio data in a discovery cohort of patients with a prolonged cough who present to primary care clinics in Cape Town, South Africa; and optimizing a classifier scheme;
Validating the audio classifier algorithm in separate clinical validation cohorts in Cape Town, South Africa and Kampala, Uganda and calculate potential cost savings; and
Using a human-centered design process to integrate the classifier into a smartphone application and identifying potential barriers and facilitators to its successful deployment.