Strategic priorities for TB control in Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines - comparative analysis of national TB prevalence surveys.

Background: Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh are three high tuberculosis (TB) burden countries in Asia which account for 18% of the estimated global TB incidence (1.8 million) and 15% of TB related deaths (192,000). In 2017 alone, approximately 785,000 of the incident TB cases in these countries remained missing, including diagnosed but not notified.

Decentralized, Community-Based Treatment for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Bangladesh Program Experience.

Background: Bangladesh is a highly populous country where the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is growing. With the rapid increase in DR-TB notifications through GeneXpert technology, it was imperative to come up with a new treatment strategy that could keep up with the increase of patients diagnosed.

Intervention: Intervention was designed to support national transition of DR-TB management of World Health Organization-approved long course (20-to-24-month regimen) treatment from a hospital-based approach to the decentralized model of community-based programmatic management of DR-TB (cPMDT).