Georgia: DR-TB patients find hope in new treatments

TB doctor Irma Davitadze at work at the Regional Center of Infectious Pathology, AIDS and Tuberculosis in Batumi, a beach resort town on the Black Sea. MSF has worked here since 2014.

MSF176590

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Georgia: DR-TB patients find hope in new treatments

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Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF176590

Date taken / Date Recorded 25/07/2016 12:00 AM

Country Georgia

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

Photographer / videographer / producer Daro Sulakauri

Copyright Daro Sulakauri

Usage Rights (MSF) Advertising Campaign, External Media, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★★★ (C)

Maximum Size 5616px × 3744px 13.22 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Since 2015, Georgia has been one of 15 countries hosting the endTB project (endTB.org) - a partnership among Partners In Health, Médecins Sans Frontières, Interactive Research and Development, funded by UNITAID.

The project aims to find better treatments for drug-resistant tuberculosis by giving patients access to the first new TB drugs in 50 years - bedaquiline and delamanid - across MSF’s treatment sites in the country.

In October 2016, endTB will also launch a clinical trial in Georgia to develop shorter, less toxic and more effective treatments based on these two new drugs.

MSF has treated tuberculosis in Georgia since 1999. Since 2007, it has given special attention to drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). In that time, MSF has treated about 2800 TB patients, including around 900 drug-resistant cases.

Tuberculosis emerged as a major public health problem in Georgia following the breakup of the Soviet Union. The civil war, which occurred in 1991 after Georgia’s independence, led to a large number of internally displaced persons and a breakdown in health services, including a difficulty to control TB.

Keywords

Georgia

Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis