
Support to the national tuberculosis strategy
Myanmar is among the 22 countries with the highest Tuberculosis (TB) burden in the world. The TB prevalence is twice the regional average and nearly three times the global average, with an estimated 250,000 people with the disease. There were an estimated 180,000 new TB cases in Myanmar in 2010, more than 40,000 of them in children. The number of people with drug-resistant strains of TB is growing at an alarming rate, with an estimated 9,000 cases of MDR-TB each year*. A top priority of National Health Plan Tuberculosis is one of the top three priority diseases in the Ministry of Health’s National Health Plan.
Scaling-up mutli-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) activities in Yangon and Mandalay Regions
3MDG funding will enable the scale-up of activities to screen, identify and provide treatment for patients with MDR-TB across 56 Townships in Yangon and Mandalay Regions, with a priority focus on urban poor populations.
The US$19 million funding will enable an additional 2,000 patients diagnosed with MDR-TB to access quality treatment, in line with the Ministry of Health’s guidelines.
Procurement
Procurement of medicines to treat MDR-TB will be the largest single expenditure out of the total $19 million financing made available. Second-line drugs (20 months regimen) for 2,000 MDR-TB patients and drugs for an additional 200 patients to be treated with a short-course regimen will be purchased. Specialized medical equipment including three Gene X-pert 16 module machines will be purchased in order to enable identification of patients suffering from MDR-TB.
Support to patients
Every patient will receive help throughout their 20 month treatment course. This includes cash and nutritional support, and transport allowances for their medical check ups. This support will be provided through community volunteers trained and recruited by NTP and implementing partners. Appropriate IEC materials and health education videos will be developed and distributed/broadcasted. Community volunteers and Basic Health Staff will also be incentivized to ensure patients are able to complete the 20 month course of MDR-TB drug treatment.
Improving quality diagnosis
Trainings will be provided for general practitioners to enable them to recognize and refer suspected cases of MDR-TB to specialized TB hospitals.
Health sector financing for the National Response to MDR-TB in Myanmar is provided by the 3MDG Fund as well as WHO, USAID CAP-TB, the Global Fund, DFAT and the World Food Programme.
* Source: National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Control 2011-2015






