Review of the National Tuberculosis Programme in the Republic of Moldova

2013 The Republic of Moldova is among the WHO European Region’s 18 high-priority countries for tuberculosis (TB) control and among the world’s 27 high multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) burden countries. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria ranks the Republic of Moldova second among 110 countries by level of funds provided per capita. The second phase of implementation of its consolidated Round 8 and 9 TB grant was approved in December 2012 with a request to submit, at a later stage, a review of the National TB Programme and a strategic plan (based on the review) to improve treatment compliance and reduce loss to treatment follow up. A major concern highlighted was that supported interventions have shown only a limited impact in improving treatment success. In October 2012 the Ministry of Health asked the WHO Regional Office for Europe to coordinate the review of the National TB Programme.

The review took place from 4 to 15 February 2013. Twelve international and seven national experts participated, visiting 18 districts and three municipalities, the autonomous region of Gagauzia and the Transnistria region. The review team developed a strategic plan to improve treatment compliance and reduce loss to treatment follow up immediately after the review; this appears as part of the roadmap attached to this report (Annex 1). The team members conveyed their key findings and recommendations at the end of the mission to the Minister of Health.