Improving access to tuberculosis treatment for patients with HIV/TB coinfection in the Russian Federation

Funding: STOP TB Partnership, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), ITPCRu.
 
Timeframe: January 15 – June 30, 2013.
 
Place of implementation: Ekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Naberezhnye Chelny, Saint-Petersburg.
 
This project was implemented by PLWH community representatives as a pilot initiative to evaluate the access to tuberculosis treatment and the needs of patients with HIV/TB coinfection.
 
The following events took place as part of the project:
 
Two questionnaires on the barriers in accessing tuberculosis treatment and prevention of latent tuberculosis among PLWH were made. 193 HIV+ patients with experience of tuberculosis treatment/prevention filled out the questionnaires. According to the results, a report on ‘the barriers in accessing tuberculosis treatment through the eyes of patients living with HIV infection and tuberculosis in Russia’ was created.
 
A list of the priority issues was created from the results of the research and they were highlighted during the Stop TB Day campaign. There were press conferences in the regions where the project took place. The research results were presented to the regional public health organs and the office of the commissioner of human rights with proposals for changing the situation.
 
The staff working on the project conducted 112 counseling sessions among patients living with HIV and TB and more than 70 of them were devoted to coping with the diagnosis of tuberculosis.
 
The compliance of TB institutions with the procedure of providing care for TB patients was monitored (these results provided the basis for contacting the commissioner for human rights in the regions of the project as well as regional committees/public health ministries).
 
An algorithm for providing narcological assistance to TB patients was created.
 
The purchase of anti-tuberculosis medicine was analyzed.
 
The project’s documents and reports are below (in Russian):
 
Monitoring the purchase of anti-tuberculosis medicine.
 
Providing drug treatment to patients during treatment of tuberculosis.
 
Report from monitoring TB facilities compliance with the Russian Ministry of Health decree from 15.11.2012 N 932н ‘On approving the procedure of providing medical care to tuberculosis patients’.