Tuberculosis Control Programme

Tuberculosis (TB) is rated as one of the major public health problems in Pakistan. According to the World Health Organization statistics, Pakistan is ranked fifth amongst the high-burden TB countries worldwide. Approximately 420,000 new TB cases emerge every year and half of these are sputum smear positive. Pakistan is also estimated to have the fourth highest occurrence of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) globally.

FATA Secretariat is implementing a comprehensive Tuberculosis Control Programme applying the DOTS strategy - Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course - of the World Health Organization. This programme is based on the same DOTS strategy.

Although no separate data on incidence or on prevalence of TB in FATA is available but the data taken from the AGEG/GTZ Strengthening Tuberculosis Control Project gives a grim picture of it in the region. The pulmonary smear positive cases are increasing every year. For this reason, an elaborated Tuberculosis Control Programme component has been devised in FATA under Basic Health Programme.

The TB Control Programme, managed by the FATA Secretariat, focuses on the construction of laboratories and procurement of drugs, vehicles and procurement services, training and private sector cooperation, support of the development and distribution of IEC material such as TV documentations, pamphlets, calendars and billboards.

Main Services

• Institutional strengthening and training of the TB management team.
• Establishment of a quality assurance system.
• Specification and procurement of laboratory equipment and consumables for diagnosis of sputum positive TB cases.
• Set up (construction works, equipment) of reference laboratory for culture and drug susceptibility testing which may also serve as training facility.
• Renovation, Refurbishment and Acquisition of further testing labs.
• Provision of audio-visual equipment for training of health staff and health awareness campaigns.
• Development and distribution of Information, education and communication material (IEC) material for TB awareness among the FATA population.

Key Achievements

• Two phased Drugs procurement activity.
• 13 Monitoring Vehicles for TB officers.
• Purchase of sophisticated lab equipment (e.g. Gene Xpert and Led 4 microscopes) for diagnosis of TB patients.
• Over 100,000 of IEC material to raise TB awareness printed and handed over to TB programme FATA.
• Launching of Electronic Management Information System.
• Solar electrification of 29 TB Diagnostic Units in FATA.
• Establishment of TB temporary warehouse and office.
• Construction of TB complex in Jamraud-Khyber Agency.
• Refurbishment of 6 TB facilities across FATA.

The ambitious objective of this programme is to significantly reduce the mortality, morbidity and transmission of tuberculosis in the FATA population of about 28 million.