Towards a people-centred model of tuberculosis care in Belarus (2018)

Belarus is one of 18 countries considered high priority in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) in the WHO European Region; it is also among the 30 countries in the world with the highest burden of multidrug-resistant TB.

Belarus is implementing a people-centred model of TB care, in line with WHO’s recommendations in A people-centred model of TB care and the ministry of health’s five-year national TB programme, “Plan on MDR/XDR-TB [multidrug-resistant/ extremely drug-resistant TB] prevention and control in the Republic of Belarus for 2016–2020”.

Brest oblast, which has a pilot project in place to implement the model, has experienced a number of successes in TB prevention and reduction in mortality in recent years. The next step to end TB is to ensure that appropriate payment mechanisms for inpatient and outpatient services are developed.