Patient Enrollment in Shorter Treatment Regimen under National DR-TB Program: Lessons from Bangladesh

Patient Enrollment in Shorter Treatment Regimen under National DR-TB Program: Lessons from Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the world’s high MDR-TB burden countries. According to the WHO, the MDR-TB burden is 1.6% among new cases and 29% among retreatment cases. The longer duration of MDR-TB treatment regimens and the toxicity of certain agents discourage many patients from completing treatment. Through the USAID-funded Challenge TB project, the standard operating procedure for shorter treatment regimen were revised, incorporating active drug safety monitoring and management and adapting current recording and reporting forms to accommodate STR data resulting in increased patient enrollment in shorter treatment regimen under national DR-TB Program.