Review of the National Tuberculosis Programme in Ukraine

Ukraine has the second-highest burden of tuberculosis in the WHO European Region. In February 2010, the Minister of Health asked WHO to review the National Tuberculosis Programme, and make recommendations that could be used to help develop the Programme plan for 2012–2016. On 10–22 October, 13 international and 23 national experts reviewed documents, visited institutions and interviewed people in 8 oblasts and Kyiv.

The reviewers found a range of problems, from inconsistent implementation of the Stop TB Strategy between and within oblasts to tuberculosis services designed for health providers, not patients. Non-supportive legislation and an outdated health system, based on hospital care and with inflexible financing, limit current efforts to improve services. Action is urgently needed to stop the increase in multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (M/XDR-TB) cases, the acceleration of HIV co-infection and high nosocomial TB transmission. The report of the review includes 14 recommendations made to the Government, the Ministry of Health and its partners.