'They prefer hidden treatment': anti-tuberculosis drug-taking practices and drug regulation in Karakalpakstan.

Setting: The joint Médecins Sans Frontières/Ministry of Health Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) Programme, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan.

Objective: Uzbekistan has high rates of MDR-TB. We aimed to understand patients' and prescribers' attitudes to anti-tuberculosis drug prescription, regulation and drug-taking behaviour.

Factors Associated with Unfavorable Treatment Outcomes in New and Previously Treated TB Patients in Uzbekistan: A Five Year Countrywide Study.

Background: TB is one of the main health priorities in Uzbekistan and relatively high rates of unfavorable treatment outcomes have recently been reported. This requires closer analysis to explain the reasons and recommend interventions to improve the situation. Thus, by using countrywide data this study sought to determine trends in unfavorable outcomes (lost-to-follow-ups, deaths and treatment failures) and describe their associations with socio-demographic and clinical factors.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Uzbekistan: results of a nationwide survey, 2010 to 2011.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB; resistance to at least rifampicin and isoniazid) is a global public health concern. In 2010–2011, Uzbekistan, in central Asia, conducted its first countrywide survey to determine the prevalence of MDR-TB among TB patients. The proportion of MDR-TB among new and previously treated TB patients throughout the country was measured and risk factors for MDR-TB explored.