The WHO field office in Gaziantep, Türkiye, recently trained 9 doctors from north-west Syria on the newest and highest standards of clinical management for tuberculosis (TB). The training took place within the framework of a project to detect and treat TB in north-west Syria.
An interactive session demonstrating X-rays, clinical symptoms, and treatment plans and outcomes was followed by discussion of further treatment plans. All doctors attending the course received the training necessary to implement the new treatment regimens outlined in WHO’s consolidated guidelines upon returning to their clinics.
With the support of the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), WHO has provided TB centres in north-west Syria with drugs, laboratory equipment, an X-ray machine, food baskets and other supplies, and has delivered capacity-building trainings for medical staff.
Treating the most vulnerable
Since March 2019, with WHO support, local doctors and their community partners have detected more than 1800 cases of TB and confirmed 41 cases of multidrug-resistant TB. Overall, the treatment success rate for the disease in north-west Syria has significantly improved, reaching 85%. However, WHO and partners have had to overcome the severe disruption to health services in the region caused by the February 2023 earthquakes.
In the aftermath of the emergency, community teams trained by WHO were deployed on field visits to check on TB patients, ensuring that their vital treatment continued and they were receiving all their medication.
“TB is one of the major causes of mortality worldwide and remains a significant threat to the most vulnerable in Syria,” said Dr Idris Elrasheed, acting Head of Office for the WHO Field Presence in Gaziantep. “Combatting the disease will always be a challenge in a country where widespread shortages of medicines and internal displacement interrupt essential lengthy treatments that are needed to prevent the development of drug-resistant TB.”
“Timely and outstanding”
Seven of the doctors travelled to Gaziantep for the training and the remaining 2 joined remotely. All presented complex clinical cases for review and discussion.
Dr Fares Al Shadidi, a medical doctor at the Al-Bab Public Health Care Centre, described the training as “timely and outstanding”. He added, “We gained so much needed expertise, and it was incredibly useful. We strengthened our awareness of many things, including TB drug safety monitoring and the application of innovative treatment regimens. With expert mentorship, we reviewed complex cases with comorbidities, and we learned how to select the most appropriate treatment for our patients with drug-resistant TB.”
The training covered the latest WHO guidelines on the 4-month treatment regimen for drug-susceptible TB and the 6-to-9-month treatment regimen for drug-resistant TB. WHO Technical Officer Dr Hani Alashavi explained, “We also focused on pharmacovigilance of second-line drugs and active drug safety monitoring of the latest treatment regimens.”
Dr Elrasheed thanked CERF and other donors for their support, adding that WHO would continue to work towards universal health coverage for the people of north-west Syria and the application of high medical-care standards.