Amal is a 44-year-old female patient. She is also a mother of 4 children, a housewife and a farmer. Her health deteriorated significantly when she developed a persistent cough, lost a lot of weight and became fatigued to the extent that she could not do simple housework or take care of her family.
Amal visited many doctors and primary health care centres before being referred to the Idleb tuberculosis (TB) centre. There she was diagnosed with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and immediately began treatment. In addition to providing treatment, WHO, in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), also provided nutritional support to aid a fast recovery.
Today, Amal is hopeful and optimistic. She is glad that new WHO recommendations have allowed MDR-TB treatment to be shortened from 20 months to 9 months, and to be administered entirely orally, with no painful injections.
“I am so happy to have the opportunity to be treated using this new method,” she states. “It fills me with hope that I will get back to living a normal life soon and taking care of my family and children.”
Receiving comprehensive TB care
An initial group of MDR-TB patients in north-western Syria began therapy in March, after WHO helped procure medicines and train 9 doctors from the region in MDR-TB patient management. For those MDR-TB patients, this was the first time they were able to receive comprehensive TB care.
WHO set up 3 TB centres in the cities of Afrin, Azaz and Idleb to reach patients spread over a wide geographical area. Since the project began in mid-2019, over 800 people in the area have been diagnosed with TB. On average each month, the TB centres screen 600 people and mobile clinics screen an additional 2000 people for the disease.
Emerging drug-resistant forms of TB prompted the establishment of Programmatic Management of Drug-resistant TB. As WHO has no direct access to north-western Syria, the Organization provides support through its implementing partners Bahar Derneg, Hand in Hand for Aid and Development, and the Syria Relief & Development Foundation.