LocationsWorld TB Day Celebration - Improving Surveillance System of Tajikistan National TB Services
April 5, 2023
World TB Day is observed globally every year on March 24 to raise awareness about TB and efforts to end the global epidemic. World TB Day 2023, with the theme 'Yes! We can end TB!', aims to inspire hope and encourage high-level leadership, increased investments, faster uptake of new WHO recommendations, adoption of innovations, accelerated action, and multisectoral collaboration to combat the TB epidemic.
Tuberculosis in Tajikistan represents a serious burden to the country’s public health system. Tajikistan is among the world’s 27 high multidrug-resistant tuberculosis burden countries. It is also included into the list of 18 high tuberculosis priority countries in the WHO European Region.
UNDP through the funding from the Global Fund supports the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Population of Tajikistan in the implementation of the National TB Control Program for 2021-2025. The cooperation is aimed at implementing effective, comprehensive TB prevention measures, providing universal access to quality early diagnosis and up-to-date treatment of all forms of TB with appropriate patient support through patient-cantered care models.
Joining efforts for more than two decades have brought considerable success in major indicators of TB epidemics control in recent years; that includes, particularly, sustainable decrease in the number of deaths from tuberculosis paired with constantly increasing successful treatment outcomes thanks to the introduction of modern diagnostic services and shorter and more efficient treatment regimens.
At the same time, the country TB services are underachieving in detection of TB and MDR TB cases, notifying only a half of the WHO estimated of TB cases. TB control activities in Tajikistan are carried out through a multilayer network of medical workers; however, insufficient health workforce lack of skills and competencies and low motivation limit provision of quality people-centred services. Covid 19 pandemic posed additional challenges for the fight against TB. Substandard surveillance system limits National TB Program ability to collect and analyse program-specific data.
In Tajikistan, UNDP with the funding of the Global Fund scaled up its support to the Ministry of Health and Social Protection through provision of additional modern diagnostic and laboratory technologies, as well as IT equipment to facilitate up to date surveillance of TB program, aiming at improving activities to finding people with tuberculosis and offering modern treatment opportunities.
On April 4, 2023, within the framework of countrywide World TB day’s activities, UNDP provided 38 sets of laptops and printers to the National TB Program to enhance system of recording and reporting and to facilitate timely and explicit analysis of TB data, which, in turn, will allow taking relevant programmatic decisions to improve further expansion of modern models of care for TB patients in the country.
UNDP remains committed to continuous cooperation and support to the government of Tajikistan in improving health and wellbeing of the population of Tajikistan.
