BURMA: LAUNCHING PILOT PROJECT TO COMBAT MULTI-DRUG

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 RANGOON 000156 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/EX; EAP/MLS; EAP/EP; EAP/PD DEPT FOR OES/STC/MGOLDBERG AND PBATES; OES/PCI/ASTEWART; OES/IHA/DSINGER AND NCOMELLA DEPT PASS TO USAID/ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL CDC ATLANTA FOR COGH SDOWELL and NCID/IB AMOEN USDA FOR OSEC AND APHIS USDA FOR FAS/DLP/HWETZEL AND FAS/ICD/LAIDIG USDA/FAS FOR FAA/YOUNG, MOLSTAD, ICD/PETTRIE, ROSENBLUM DOD FOR OSD/ISA/AP FOR LEW STERN PARIS FOR FAS/AG MINISTER COUNSELOR/OIE ROME FOR FAO BANGKOK FOR REO OFFICE, USAID/RDMA HEALTH OFFICE - JMACARTHUR, CBOWES TOKYO FOR HEALTH OFFICER PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958:N/A TAGS: ECON TBIO EAID SOCI PGOV AMED BM SUBJECT: BURMA: LAUNCHING PILOT PROJECT TO COMBAT MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT TB RANGOON 00000156 001.2 OF 004 Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The Burmese Ministry of Health, working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Medecins sans Frontieres-Holland, will launch a three-year multi-drug and extensively-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR- and XDR-TB) pilot program in Rangoon on March 23 and Mandalay on April 2. The National TB Program will provide treatment to 100 patients in Rangoon and Mandalay in 2009 and an additional 175 patients in 2010. If the pilot program is successful, the GOB and WHO will expand it to the national level in the next five years, pending funding. In celebration of World TB Day on March 24, the MOH will adopt the International Standards for TB Care (ISTC),which will help unify public and private sector approaches to diagnosis and treatment of TB and improve Burma's capacity to identify and treat the disease. End Summary. Determining TB Prevalence Rates -------------- ¶2. (SBU) According to the WHO, Burma is one of 22 TB high-burden countries in the world, with a GOB-estimated TB prevalence rate of 1.5 percent. The true burden of TB in Burma remains unknown; WHO TB Officer Dr. Hans Kluge estimates that the rate could be at least three times higher than Ministry of Health figures. In 2007 the National TB Program (NTP) diagnosed 133,547 TB cases, up from 107,991 in 2006. Eighty percent of all TB cases in Burma are among those between 15 and 54, and one out of every six children has TB. The mortality rate for TB infected patients in 2007 was 23 deaths per 100,000 people, or more than 11,000 deaths annually -- a rate the WHO believes will increase in future years. ¶3. (SBU) Contacts at Population Services International (PSI) and Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF)-Holland believe that more than 40 percent of Burma's population contract TB annually. While the MOH publicly rejects this figure, MOH officials privately admit that the prevalence rate is likely far higher than GOB estimates. The MOH, working with WHO, PSI, and the Three Diseases Fund (3DF),is currently conducting a new National TB Prevalence Survey. MOH Deputy Director of Infectious Disease Dr. Kyaw Nyunt Sein told us that the MOH will finish data Qection by the end of 2009 and publish the results by mid-2010. MOH Efforts to Combat MDR-TB -------------- ¶4. (SBU) According to the MOH's most recent National Drug Resistance Survey in 2007, MDR-TB accounts for 4.2 percent of new TB cases and 10 percent of previously treated cases. (Note: the RANGOON 00000156 002.2 OF 004 percent of MDR-TB among previously treated cases was last estimated at 15.5 percent during the 2002 MDR-TB Prevalence Survey. WHO and MOH have yet to analyze the reasons for the apparent decrease. End Note.) WHO recently concluded a study of 100 Burmese TB patients whom the NTP categorized as Category II TB failures (they defaulted on several TB treatments),and determined that all 100 patients had MDR-TB and one had XDR-TB. Kluge commented that these results, just a small sample of Burma's TB patients, prove that MDR-TB could be far more widespread that previously thought. While health officials cannot pinpoint exactly why the rate of MDR-TB in Burma is so high, they note that both the availability of inferior TB drugs on the local market, as well as higher default treatment rates, play a role. ¶5. (SBU) WHO and NTP officials note that MDR and XDR-TB are serious regional threats because Burmese migrants with TB travel to neighboring countries to find work. Although healthcare for Burmese citizens remains woefully under funded, the GOB has increased its NTP budget significantly -- from $14,500 in 1995 to $400,000 in FY08 -- but the budget is still far short of what is needed. (Note: The NTP budget is used to pay for TB drugs and other medical treatment. Medical infrastructure, salaries, and other administrative costs are paid for out of the general MOH budget. End Note.) In 2006 the GOB established the National Drug Resistant TB Committee, comprised of officials the NTP, Food and Drug Administration, National Health Lab, WHO, PSI, and MSF-Holland. This committee created the National Response to MDR-TB in Burma and helped establish the pilot project to treat MDR-TB to be launched in March. The GOB has also taken steps to improve the NTP in recent years, recognizing that a strong DOTS (directly observed treatment, short course) program is key to preventing MDR and XDR-TB. In the past two years, the Ministry of Health created 13 additional posts to strengthen the TB control activities at the State and Division level. It also created a new MDR-TB consultant position to work with the WHO and coordinate activities and draft the MDR-TB operational plan. New MDR-TB Pilot Project -------------- ¶6. (SBU) NTP, in collaboration with WHO and MSF-Holland, will launch its MDR-TB treatment pilot program in Rangoon on March 23 and in Mandalay on April 2. Through the program, the NTP will provide second-line DOTS treatment to 100 MDR patients in five townships in Rangoon and Mandalay during the first year and expand the program to an additional 175 patients by mid-2010. The National TB Committee has already selected 25 MDR-TB patients from Mandalay and 75 patients from Rangoon to receive the drug protocol at either the Pathengyi TB Hospital or Aung San TB Hospital, Dr. Kyaw Nyunt Sein told us. MSF-Holland will also select 25 of its patients from RANGOON 00000156 003.2 OF 004 Rangoon, who will be treated at Aung San Hospital during the first year. Funding for the program (USD 1 million) will be provided by the WHO's Greenlight Committee Initiative, which helps countries gain access to high-quality second-line TB drugs. ¶7. (SBU) MDR-TB treatment takes substantially longer than normal TB treatment -- 18 to 24 months compared to six to nine months, Kluge explained. During the year, patients will spend the first four months at either of the two TB hospitals, where they will be monitored daily. For the remaining months, patients will receive daily outpatient care. Because the MDR-TB treatment is so time-consuming, the NTP will rely on community volunteers and health workers from PSI, MSF-Holland, and World Vision to monitor patients' treatment. NTP officials will be responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the program. Kluge said that he believes the NTP is committed to treating MDR-TB and containing the problem within Burma. Celebrating World TB Day March 24 -------------- ¶8. (SBU) During a planned March 24 ceremony in Nay Pyi Taw commemorating World TB Day, the Minister of Health will announce the GOB's adoption of the International Standards for TB Care (ISTC) -- 17 standards that will govern public and private sector approaches to diagnosis and treatment of TB in Burma. During the past two months, WHO, with USAID FY08 funding for TB, has held several technical assistance and training sessions for high-level MOH officials, TB treatment providers, medical school professors, and doctors to discuss implementation of the ISTC. According to Dr. Philip Hopewell, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and visiting technical advisor, the MOH appears committed not only to implement the ISTC, but also to find ways to monitor and evaluate the treatment standards. By July 2009, the MOH plans to translate the ISTC into Burmese and expects to begin working with the Myanmar School of Medicine to incorporate the ISTC into the curriculum. Comment -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The Ministry of Health is not the obstacle to tackling Burma's TB problem. It is staffed with low-paid but dedicated civil servants who comprehend the growing TB problem and are trying their best to treat it with the minimal resources the senior generals allocate to them. While the national program and private sector appear to be handling the current TB case load, an increasing number of MDR-TB cases requiring significant additional resources will soon overburden the program's capacity. The upcoming pilot program will RANGOON 00000156 004.2 OF 004 provide the NTP and Ministry of Health with a better sense of treatment requirements for difficult TB cases. However, Burma needs to focus on preventing MDR-TB as well as treating it. The best way to prevent MDR-TB and XDR-TB outbreaks is to strengthen the existing NTP and DOTS program and promote educational outreach to ensure that new cases are treated properly. Burma's growing TB problem could be a danger to the region, and eventually to the world, if it cannot be contained. VAJDA