Tuberculosis continues to be a significant public health threat in the Republic of Tajikistan, including multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The National TB Program, through its National Strategic Plan for TB 2021–2025, focuses on various interventions, including ensuring universal access to quality treatment and care. A key pillar for reducing morbidity and mortality due to TB is the availability of safe and quality-assured medicines for effective treatment of the disease.
Since 2018, Tajikistan transitioned from support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund) to the domestic procurement of first-line anti-TB drugs. PQM+ is supporting the medicines regulatory authority (MRA) to strengthen its medicines registration system. PQM+ is increasing the availability of TB medicines by identifying manufacturers of first- and second-line quality assured TB medicines and facilitating registration of these TB medicines in country. The program is also working with the MRA to strengthen their medicines registration function by adapting the Registration Information Management System (RIMS) registration module for Tajikistan contributing toward the digitization of the medicines registration process, and eventually increasing transparency and efficiency of the registration process. PQM+ is also working with medicines quality control laboratory (MQCL) to strengthen its quality management system and to improve its compliance with international standards to deliver reliable and accurate results from medical products quality testing activities. PQM+ is working with the MRA to develop a good manufacturing Practice (GMP) roadmap and strengthen the capacity of the GMP inspection team. Finally, PQM+ is also working with Avicenna Tajik State Medical University (ATSMU) to pharmacy faculty’s capacity building and curriculum strengthening.
