Report of the joint ECDC and WHO review of the national tuberculosis programme in Bulgaria

On 20 February 2014 the Minister of Health of Bulgaria, Dr Tanya Andreeva, invited the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe to jointly conduct a review of the Bulgarian National Tuberculosis Control Programme.

From 2 to 9 June 2014, a team of nine experts visited Bulgaria to perform the review. The programme of the review included visits to national institutions involved in tuberculosis (TB) prevention and control, primary healthcare facilities, regional hospitals including laboratories, the hospital for treatment of multidrug-resistant TB, a prison hospital, regional health inspectorates, and non-governmental organizations. The team was supported by national experts.

The aim of this review is to assess the Programme's contribution to TB prevention and control in Bulgaria, to identify the gaps in the implementation of the present Programme and to make recommendations for needed improvements in the Programme's implementation as well as for future strategic planning of TB prevention and control activities.