The Union’s TREAT TB (Technology, Research, Education and Technical Assistance for Tuberculosis) initiative has received US $8.3 million for 2013-14 for its landmark clinical trial, STREAM, which began patient recruitment in 2012. The STREAM clinical trial compares a shortened MDR-TB treatment regimen with the local, standard regimen recommended by the World Health Organization. The results, to be published in 2016, will help shape international treatment guidelines for MDR-TB.
Funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), TREAT TB is led by a Union team based at The Union North America Office, with a core team of international research partners and ministries of health (MOHs). In addition, strategic partners at regional and national levels, who are uniquely positioned to plan and implement research activities, are also involved. One of the achievements of the initiative has been the development of a model for a successful research partnership that can stimulate changes in international standards and practice in ways that serve individual country needs.