Challenge TB | Lead Partner: KNCV | Country Director: Abbas Zezai
Our Activities
KNCV has been providing TB control support to the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services for more than 14 years. KNCV’s technical leadership has been pivotal to assisting the National Tuberculosis Program in the development and implementation of three national strategic plans and five Global Fund grant applications.
In diagnostics, KNCV advocates for universal drug-susceptibility testing and supports the use of a laboratory TB register countrywide. KNCV believes that everyone deserves the most appropriate care with the correct diagnostics using the latest diagnostic tests.
Since 2008, when KNCV first spearheaded the Programmatic Management of Drug-resistant TB (PMDT), more than 3000 patients in Namibia have been treated for drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) and KNCV has been instrumental in the supervision of two nationwide drug-resistant surveys.
With regards to the use of new regimens for DR-TB treatment, 36 patients have been treated with bedaquiline through the USAID funded project. KNCV also supported the production of new guidelines for DR-TB, which incorporates the short treatment regimens for treating MDR-TB.
KNCV continues to provide long-term technical assistance to the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Program (NTLP). Via deployment of the technical Programmatic Management of DR-TB Officer, the NTLP were able to access the USAID donation of bedaquiline and treat patients with MDR and XDR-TB. These were patients who have virtually no further treatment options open to them.
In KNCV supported districts, Isoniazid Preventative Therapy, (IPT) coverage, part of the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) training offered to USAID’s implementing partners, four KNCV districts were identified as pilot CQI projects. IPT is a public health intervention for the prevention of TB among people living with HIV. Implementation of IPT in Namibia has been limited and this pilot has renewed hope of reinforcing IPT coverage in the future.
Namibia also embarked on the first ever, nationwide TB Disease Prevalence Survey with support from KNCV and other partners.
Our Office
KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation in Namibia
Florence Nightingale Street (Bell Harris Building)
Windhoek, Namibia