Afghanistan bears a high burden of tuberculosis (TB) disease, with an estimated 60,000 men, women and children falling ill and 12,000 dying of TB in the country each year. In order to combat this, and to extend the latest and best quality TB care to Afghanistan, MSF has introduced an innovative new drug regimen for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) to the country, and has recently seen the first patients successfully finish treatment and return home from the MSF clinic in Kandahar.

Currently there are over 20 patients under treatment for MDR-TB at MSF’s clinic in Kandahar, the youngest of whom is just 18 months old. Many travel long distances from other provinces in Afghanistan in order to reach the clinic where they receive proper treatment for drug resistant TB. For some patients this means a standard short course regimen and for others, those who cannot tolerate the standard regimen or whose TB is classified as extremely drug resistant (XDR), an individually tailored regimen will be created.

In the project in Kandahar, MSF has recently made two new drugs, bedaquiline and delamanid, available for the first time in Afghanistan for patients with TB so resistant to antibiotics that no other treatment options are available and for those who cannot physically tolerate the standard short course regimen. Far shorter than the traditional 24 month regimen, the short course offers the same or even higher efficacy than the traditional long course, and allows some patients to finish their treatment in just nine months.