Our work in drug-resistant TB
The Union advocates for increased research and development, and conducts clinical trials to reduce treatment time and improve outcomes for patients in countries with the highest burdens of disease.
The Union also provides practical and experience-based support to countries implementing care for people with DR-TB. Our expertise is based on our extensive research with partners supporting the nine-month regimen, including partnering on the first randomised control trial into a new regimen for multidrug-resistant TB (TREAT TB).
With the new World Health Organization guidelines focusing on shorter, all oral, regimens for MDR-TB, The Union continues to support countries to implement the latest evidence-based treatments.
TREAT TB
Read more about TREAT TB (Technology, Research, Education and Technical Assistance for Tuberculosis), an ambitious initiative that was launched by The Union, seeking to contribute new knowledge regarding shorter, more tolerable treatment regimens for MDR-TB.
OTHER AREAS OF OUR WORK IN TUBERCULOSIS
You might also be interested in our work on child and adolescent TB and TB-HIV, TB-diabetes and co-morbidities.
The Union used an operational research approach to test a shortened treatment regimen for multidrug-resistant TB. The study first demonstrated a greater than 80% success rate in Bangladesh, Cameroon and Niger and The Union continued to work to develop and implement shorter more effective regimens for the treatment of MDR-TB.
Learn more
Understand the issues with our fact sheets
DR-TB Union news
Maintaining essential child and adolescent TB services during the COVID-19 pandemic: practical solutions and lessons learnt
subtitle: Thursday 3 September, 13:00 - 14:30 PM CEST
Although the primary risk of coronavirus infection in young people with co-morbidities such as TB, HIV, or severe malnutrition is still uncertain, the negative impact of the pandemic on this already vulnerable population is becoming clear.
Advancing the fight against childhood pneumonia in LMICs
subtitle: Thursday, 27 August, 14:00 - 15:00 PM CEST
Speakers highlight recent literature on epidemiology, diagnosis, clinical signs, risk stratification, pulse oximetry, treatment approaches, including CPAP, clinical trials, air pollution, stakeholder perspectives and prevention efforts, as well as the latest on COVID-19 as a cause of pneumonia in children.
Desafios no enfrentamento da TB-COVID-19: situação em Moçambique, manifestações clínicas em adultos e diagnóstico sorológico
subtitle: Thursday, 13 August, 16:00 - 17:00 CEST
Portuguese language webinar
Rôles et responsabilités dans la réponse au Covid-19, aux maladies non transmissibles (MNT) et au tabac
subtitle: Tuesday, 28 July, 13:00 – 15:00 CEST
French language webinar
COVID-19 transmission, similarities and differences with other respiratory pathogens
subtitle: Thursday, 16 July, 15:00 PM - 16:00 CEST
Speaker: Mark Jackwood, University of Georgia
Moderator: Liliana Salvador, University of Georgia, USA
Caring for Carers - stigma awareness, attention and response
subtitle: Thursday 9 July, 14:00 - 15:00 CEST
This webinar will discuss the importance of stigma in health care facilities and amongst health care providers, and how to recognise and effectively address it. Recognising and addressing stigma in health care facilities and improving the well-being of care providers offers possibilities to create an environment free from fear and discrimination – both for the facility users as well as care providers.
DR-TB publications
Conflation of prediction and causality in the TB literature
A forthcoming IJTLD OPEN article addresses the frequent conflation of prediction and causal inference in observational TB studies, and outlines practical recommendations to enhance research precision and transparency.
The rationale for cancer to be made a notifiable disease in India
In this Short Communication (to be published in the Q2 issue of PHA), the authors explain why the Ministry of Health in India should make cancer a notifiable disease.
Evaluating disability, comorbidities and risk factors after TB treatment: an 18–24 month follow-up in China
Ahead of World TB Day, we present an article that assesses disability, comorbidities and risk factors after TB treatment in China.
TB disability and multimorbidity at the onset of treatment in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Ahead of World TB Day, we present an article that assesses the burden of multimorbidity and the effectiveness of referral pathways at the start of TB treatment across Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe