The National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) was established in 1954 by the Ministry of Health, with financial

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support from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The ensuing twenty–three years of civil war, which started in 1979, has resulted in the steady collapse and decline of the public health system, including TB control programmes. The uncertainty of the country’s political future, with a backdrop in poor security and an improbable future to those people involved in the health delivery system, hampered any constructive will to support and resource most, if not all of the communicable disease control programmes. As a consequence of lacking these basic requirements, the countries health infrastructure fell into decay and neglect thereby allowing diseases, particularly TB, to manifest and proliferate unchecked across the country for many years.

In 1997 WHO and in collaboration the with other TB control NGO’s, and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) adopted the Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) strategy. The implementation of DOTS which began only in 2002 was coincidental with the formation of a new Government of Afghanistan.

In early 2003, the first National Strategic Plan for TB Control 2002‐2005 was drafted and the global targets of 70% case detection and 85% treatment success by 2005 were adopted by the MoPH as the national goals of the 3‐year DOTS strategy.

Afghanistan is one of the 22 TB high‐burden countries and TB is a major public health problem in Afghanistan. The country has one of the highest incidence rates of TB in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. WHO estimates that every year more than 50,000 new cases of TB occur in Afghanistan. with more than 10,000 of the cases resulting in death. Over 32,500 TB cases are with women, a highly vulnerable group, which accounts for 65% of all cases of TB presenting to public clinics.