The Union's MDR-TB Unit organised the course and led the faculty. The curriculum called for half of the time to be devoted to updating participants' knowledge of the most recent scientific evidence, with a focus on publications from African countries, including Zimbabwe. The other half was devoted to practical exercises and discussion of both multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant TB, with special emphasis on TB-HIV, new diagnostic tools, measures to prevent the development of additional resistance and TB infection control. On the last days, the participants made presentations.
The pre- and post-test results showed that participants' knowledge of the subject improved from an average of 7.5/20 to a mean result of 15.2/20 . With very positive feedback from both the National Tuberculosis Programme and individual participants, a new course is planned for 2013.
This next course – and any subsequent courses – will progressively involve local clinicians who have previously taken the course as facilitators, in order to create a pool of local trainers with the capacities and skills to further disseminate the training. This "training of trainers" (ToT) model has already produced good results in other African countries, such as South Africa.
The 1st Intensive Course on the Clinical Management of MDR-TB was funded by TB CARE I-USAID.