A joint Southeast Asia & Western Pacific regional workshop on accelerating the implementation of new policies of the World Health Organization (WHO) on tuberculosis is taking place from April 1st to April 4th in Hanoi. The workshop is organized by WHO's Global TB Programme, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEAR) and the Western Pacific Region (WPR), along with Unitaid, KNCV, the Global Fund, and the Vietnam National TB Programme.
About 80 delegates are attending the event, including representatives from national TB programs and national reference laboratories from 14 countries with a high TB burden in Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions. The event also saw the participation of partner organizations such as WHO, Unitaid, KNCV, USAID, CDC, the Global Fund, BMGF, and civil society organizations from countries with high TB burdens.
This is an important event following WHO's update of global policies on the prevention, diagnosis, nutrition, and treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis in 2024. The goal of the workshop is to promote the effective adoption and implementation of these new WHO policies at the national level in countries within the region, including:
- Tuberculosis preventive treatment for people in contact with drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB) cases.
- New, advanced diagnostic methods (such as targeted next-generation sequencing technology).
- Nutritional interventions for TB patients and their households.
- New drug-resistant TB treatment regimens (including 6-month and 9-month regimens).
These improvements promise to bring greater flexibility to countries, improve the quality of life for patients, and help save significant costs.
Attending the workshop session on April 1st, Ms. Nguyen Thai Binh, Health and Social Protection Program Coordinator, shared about the Community System to End TB (CSET) model currently being implemented by SCDI. CSET is an initiative of SCDI, established with the mission of supporting communities affected by TB in accessing high-quality healthcare services, towards the goal of ending TB in Vietnam.
Photo: Ms. Nguyen Thai Binh, Health and Social Protection Program Coordinator, presents at the workshop
Since its establishment, CSET has been implementing many activities to narrow the gaps in TB prevention and control, and to improve public health in general. CSET especially focuses on supporting access to TB examination and treatment services for vulnerable community groups - people at high risk of TB but facing difficulties in accessing disease prevention and treatment services.
CSET plays an important role throughout the process of implementing TB treatment and prevention activities: from raising community awareness, proactively reaching out to high-risk individuals, encouraging them to participate in screening, to linking and accompanying patients during treatment. As an extension of the health system, CSET is making an important contribution to bringing Vietnam closer to the goal of eliminating tuberculosis by 2035.
