The USAID Quality Health Care Project (QHCP), implemented by Abt Associates and its subcontractor, Project Hope, is working with communities in Central Asia to improve tuberculosis (TB) control.

This year, USAID QHCP supported local partners in implementing a number of events for World TB Day, observed globally on March 24. With Project support, children and adults in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan learned about the signs and symptoms of TB, when to seek help, and that TB is a curable disease. Patients undergoing TB treatment also received a bit of extra attention and information, aimed at giving them the emotional support to see their treatment regimens through to the end.

“World TB Day is once a year, but the education and outreach conducted in part by USAID QHCP lasts year round,” said Martha Benezet, Abt Senior Associate and TB Technical Lead.

USAID QHCP also focuses on: HIV; reproductive health and family planning; maternal, neonatal, and child health; and antimicrobial resistance.

In Uzbekistan, more than 600 community members, schoolchildren, college students and health care workers turned out for events in Tashkent City and Navoiy organized in part by USAID QHCP. Attendees participated in interactive games that shared important information about TB in a fun way to decrease stigma and discrimination directed at TB patients, thereby encouraging individuals to seek testing and treatment.

In Kyrgyzstan, USAID QHCP supported drawing contests for children hospitalized with TB, a performance for school children in Bishkek, a dance contest, a press conference, and a TB prevention quiz targeting the homeless population served by the project’s NGO partner, Fountain of Life. USAID QHCPalso supported the distribution of 50,000 leaflets and 250 posters on TB through Bishkek City schools.

In Tajikistan, USAID QHCP, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and partner TB centers held educational contests for TB patients and their relatives during patient support group meetings. For example, nearly 90 TB patients took part at nine primary health care centers of Dushanbe.

Also in Tajikistan, USAID QHCP also helped organize a TB awareness event at the Vahdat Rayon TB Center. The event included quizzes on TB and a skit about health seeking behavior for patients with co-infections, such as HIV. Approximately 80 people participated, including nursing college students, NGO representatives, outreach workers, community leaders, and representatives from primary health care centers. The project awarded gifts to health workers who actively collaborate with the Vahdat Rayon TB Center and have made significant contributions in the struggle against TB.