Success stories
Egypt
Innovative approaches in TB control
Private–public mix (PPM)
One encouraging example of private–public mix has taken place in Egypt,
where the NTP established a national TB board representing all partners.
Pilot projects with general practitioners and private laboratories started
in 2000. Egypt is one of the few countries in the world that receives case
notifications from the private health sector. Another encouraging example
took place in the Syrian Arab Republic, where anti-TB drugs were widely sold
in private pharmacies, sometimes even without prescription. After long
deliberations with the private sector, the sale of anti-TB drugs in private
pharmacies was banned.
Operational research
Operational research is being promoted in TB control, and the UNDP–World
Bank–WHO Special Programme for Research and Training Tropical Diseases has
included TB as one of its targeted diseases as from 2000. TDR, IUATLD and
WHO held a TB research workshop in Alexandria, Egypt, in 2000 in which NTP
managers and researchers from 10 countries participated. Operational
research protocols were developed and submitted to the EMRO/TDR Small Grants
Scheme, and many of them were funded. In addition, the cost–effectiveness of
DOTS was endorsed by a study carried out in Egypt and the Syrian Arab
Republic by the Royal Tropical Institute, Netherlands, in which DOTS
delivered through the primary health care network was found to be the most
cost-effective intervention for TB control.
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