USAID Tuberculosis Free Uzbekistan Activity Overview

The initiative will bolster Uzbekistan's National TB Program in the areas of leadership, management, financing, and information systems. TB Free Uzbekistan will lead to measurable and sustainable improvements in the quality and availability of TB services by ensuring there are skilled and motivated providers in health facilities and laboratories. The activity will also increase access to drugs, supplies, and services, and assist communities in reducing TB stigma, providing comprehensive support services to patients, and ensuring patients successfully complete treatment. This is the first USAID-Uzbekistan bilateral activity and builds upon 20 years and nearly $60 million of U.S. Government investment into Uzbekistan's national TB mitigation efforts. Uzbekistan has made great strides in TB control, but the TB burden remains high, with the country ranking in the top 30 countries with cases of multidrug-resistant TB. Challenges and bottlenecks persist that impede reaching TB targets, including strengthening the capacity of people and institutions, improving data availability, use, and system interoperability, and operationalizing policies and guidelines. USAID's TB Free Uzbekistan is designed to reduce the burden of TB by implementing targeted interventions, including supporting the National TB Program to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of priority functions and mechanisms in the TB response. To reach its goal of a reduced TB burden in Uzbekistan, TB Free Uzbekistan will achieve several results, including increased TB case detection through screening and active case finding, increased bacteriological and drug-susceptibility testing coverage, increased successful initiation and treatment outcomes for all forms of TB, increased and improved TB preventive treatment and other TB preventive measures, introduced and rolled out new tools that improve the performance and public health impact of country-level TB detection, care, and treatment programs, and strengthened governance and management of the TB program. The performance period for TB Free Uzbekistan is May 2023– May 2028, and the activity will be led by Bahtiyor Babamuradov, MD, Chief of Party, TB Free Uzbekistan Activity, USAID Uzbekistan. The initiative aims to make significant strides in reducing the TB burden in Uzbekistan and achieving national and global TB targets.