Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has a long-running tuberculosis (TB) care programme in Tajikistan, focusing on developing innovative approaches to reduce incidence and death rates among both children and adults.

In the capital, Dushanbe, we are implementing family directly observed treatment (F-DOT), which enables patients to take their TB medication at home under the supervision of a family member. Our teams also actively engage in contact tracing, ensuring early detection and treatment, for example among relatives of TB patients. 

We have introduced simple laboratory diagnostic procedures to improve TB detection among children, such as sputum induction, and alternative ways of testing, using stool samples and blood tests. 

In Kulob district, we continued the 'Zero TB' project, which is designed to demonstrate the feasibility of eliminating TB in geographically contained areas with appropriate treatment and preventive strategies. To facilitate case finding, MSF introduced computer-aided detection through digital x-ray.

In Dushanbe, Vahdat and Norek districts, our teams provide TB screening and diagnosis for both detainees and staff in prison colonies and in a pre-trial detention centre.

MSF also actively supports the national TB programme and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Population to implement shorter, all-oral treatment regimens for both drug-resistant and drug-sensitive TB, in line with the latest recommendations from the World Health Organization. 

An international TB symposium, jointly hosted by the ministry and MSF, was convened in Dushanbe in May 2023, with the aim of devising novel approaches to treatment and advocating a wider rollout of new drugs and diagnostic tools. More than 160 participants from various countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as India and Libya, attended the symposium.