As well as diagnosis and treatment, we offer patients adherence counselling and health education, and call for greater access to care across the country. 

Our teams continue to implement the innovative F-DOT (family directly observed therapy) approach, which allows patients to take their medication at home under the supervision of a family member. We also conduct contact tracing to ensure early TB detection and treatment for relatives of TB patients, and for people in the Tajik penitentiary system. 

In 2022, MSF began TB screening and diagnosis in several prison colonies and one pre-trial detention centre. This service is available for all people entering and leaving these institutions, including detainees and penitentiary system workers. 

In the ‘Zero TB’ project in Kulob district, which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of eliminating TB, we launched the SMARRTT (six-month all-oral regimens for rifampicin-resistant TB treatment) operational study. This followed the successful conclusion of the TB-PRACTECAL clinical trial, and the most recent recommendations from the World Health Organization on all-oral, shorter regimens for people with drug-resistant TB.   

In September, following violent clashes at the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, we sent a team to Isfara district to support the local hospitals with donations of medical supplies and distribute food and hygiene kits to displaced people.