Since the end of last year, KNCV and partners have been enrolling patients with multi-drug resistant-TB (MDR-TB) in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on the newest treatment regimens. MDR-TB patients normally face two years of toxic treatment that often lead to poor results. The new treatment options for MDR-TB patients take less than half of the original two years, and patients suffering from extremely drug-resistant (XDR) TB will finally have access to effective treatment. Getting to this stage required a long and complicated preparation phase, below are the experiences of two of our KNCV colleagues who were involved in this process:
“Preparations took much longer than everyone expected, due to many reasons. But now here we are, we managed, we succeeded. It is a huge success for us personally. Many parts of the process were new for everyone involved including ourselves, which provided the opportunity to learn together with our colleagues from the national teams, both from KNCV, other technical partners and the doctors and nurses. We were honored to be welcomed as part of their team and to feel the trust they have in us, which felt like a huge responsibility at the same time. We also work directly with patients, that’s why it is so great to see that they have new hope. These are mainly young people with dreams about life, family and kids and we are so grateful that we can provide them this hope”
Patient enrollment was the result we were working towards, getting to this point gives us the motivation to continue and to expand our efforts on the national and international scales:
“As PMDT consultants we feel united through the great connections we have developed with other teams and experts. Together we succeeded, proving the merit of our programmatic and sustainable approach. Our approach is accepted by both countries and donors, and this is just the beginning. We feel that we are making history, and we really appreciate that we can do the things in which we so strongly believe. There will be many challenges ahead, but together we will solve them one by one.”
KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation and the USAID-funded Challenge TB project are proud partners of the Tajik and Kyrgyz National TB programs.