Addressing drug-resistant TB

Drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) poses a major threat to TB care and prevention in the South-East Asia Region. In 2017, there were an estimated 192 000 incident multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB cases in the Region. This constitutes 34.4% of the global MDR-TB burden. Several challenges exist in programmatic management of DR-TB in the Region. The detection of DR-TB among notified pulmonary TB cases is low and treatment outcomes for DR-TB cases also remain a major concern.

Scaling-up the regional and national response to DR-TB requires improvements of the several critical steps in the cascade of services:

1. Expansion of testing for DR-TB/access to WHO-recommended rapid diagnostic tests for first and second-line drug susceptibility testing.
2. Ensuring that all diagnosed patients are promptly notified and enrolled in recommended DR-TB treatment regimens.
3. Ensuring that all enrolled people with DR-TB complete their treatment under effective patient-centred support.

To address DR-TB challenges, WHO South-East Asia Regional Office created the regional Green Light Committee (rGLC) consisting of a group of experts in the Region to assist countries in scaling up the Programmatic Management of Drug-resistant TB (PMDT) in high-quality and patient-centred ways. The rGLC provides technical assistance on various aspects of PMDT and also supports capacity building in specific areas based on identified needs.