Quarterly Report: Uzbekistan, January - February 2012

The initiative aimed to improve TB control in the country, focusing on key areas such as universal and early access, laboratories, infection control, PMDT, TB/HIV, and health systems strengthening. Implementation of the initiative was delayed due to pending registration issues in Uzbekistan. Despite these challenges, TB CARE I secured USAID's approval to implement activities in APA 2 through WHO. The organization plans to work in Uzbekistan through its partner during APA 2, starting in May 2012. Key findings from the first quarter of 2012 include the following: in the technical area of universal and early access, the NTP will only provide data once registration is complete. In the laboratories technical area, activity was delayed due to pending registration, and the challenge was not fully covered. In the infection control technical area, the ratio of TB notification rate in healthcare staff was 0.2, and activity was delayed due to pending registration. In the PMDT technical area, MDR TB cases put on treatment were 628, representing 61% of diagnosed MDR TB cases. However, activity was not conducted due to pending registration. In the TB/HIV technical area, the country has a national strategic plan on TB/HIV collaborative activities in line with WHO standards, but activity was not conducted due to pending registration. Implementation of the initiative also faced challenges in the areas of health systems strengthening, patient adherence to treatment, and local human resource capacity. Despite these challenges, TB CARE I plans to complete planned activities in APA 2 and work in Uzbekistan through its partner during APA 2. The initiative's overall work plan completion was 64% as of the end of the first quarter of 2012. The most significant achievement of the quarter was the receipt of official response from the Ministry of Justice to revise the application documents for resubmission at a later time.