In January 2016, the first TB in Eastern Europe and Central Asia Project on Strengthening Health Systemsfor Effective TB and DR-TB Control (hereinafter – the Project) waslaunched. The Project is implementedwith the financial support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (hereinafter – GF) in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (hereinafter – EECA).
Period of project implementation: 2016 – 2018.
Overall goal of the Project is to improve TB and DR-TB treatment outcomes in the target EECA countries[1]through health systems strengthening, resulting in wide implementation of the patient-centeredapproaches in the delivery of TB prevention, treatment and care services.
Project objectives:
– To increase political commitment to end TB and MDR/XDR-TB through regional cooperation and evidence sharing for better governance of the National TB Control Programs.
– To develop and disseminate evidence on effective TB services delivery systems for implementation of the patient-centered approaches and innovative models of care.
– To ensure sustainable financing in TB Control and efficient funds allocation mechanisms.
With technical leadership of WHO Regional Office for Europe, the Principal Recipient of the GF grant to implement the Project is the Center for Health Policies and Studies (hereinafter – PAS Center, Republic of Moldova). Besides, a wide range of partners is involved into project implementation, including TB EuropeCoalition, on whose behalf ICF “Alliance of Public Health” acts, the European Respiratory Society, other academic and service institutions of the region.
One of the Project components is support of the activities of civil society organizations (hereinafter –CSOs) in TB advocacy. To achieve this objective, in November 2015 a call for proposals “Establishingsustained advocacy for transition to the outpatient model of health care for the key groups of population affected by TB” was announced. Based on the competition results, ten winning bidders were defined for organizations representing EECA countries (Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Uzbekistan,Ukraine, and Republic of Tajikistan).
Within the performance of project proposals, CSOs in partnership with the wide range of stakeholders inthe relevant countries should develop advocacy strategies aimed at the support of efficient and cost-effective outpatient model of health care for TB patients.
ICF “Alliance of Public Health”, which acts in cooperation with TB Europe Coalition for the Project implementation, is responsible for providing general technical support to CSO projects, coordination of advocacy activities, monitoring and exchange of best advocacy practices in EECA region
[1] Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Republic of Tajikistan, and Republic of Turkmenistan.