A significant problem in the treatment of TB is not the availability of effective medicines, but the fact that treatment regimes are long and complicated. This means that many patients give up the treatment once the symptoms are no longer apparent, but before the infection is fully treated. With funding from AstraZeneca, the British Red Cross/Red Crescent‘s community-based work has focused on improving patient compliance, encouraging early diagnosis, raising awareness of TB, fighting the stigma associated with the disease and building local capabilities in prevention and control. Progress to date includes over 6,000 patients in Central Asia successfully completing their TB treatment and a significant increase in community awareness of TB following media campaigns and health education sessions in schools and public places that have reached over 750,000 people. Still in Central Asia, since 2006 we have also been supporting the British Red Cross and its partner Red Crescent Society to develop a programme in Kazakhstan, aimed at mitigating the consequences of TB/HIV co-infection, which is a significant threat to public health in the region. TB and HIV form a potentially lethal combination, each speeding the other’s progress and TB is the biggest killer of people living with HIV. The local Red Crescent organisation is working to establish effective, sustainable and replicable models of community based social support for patients with TB and HIV, and their families. The programme brings together people with a range of skills, such as social workers, psychologists and employment lawyers, who work with volunteers – many of them former patients, to offer a range of support to those on treatment and those who have recently completed treatment. To date, this project has helped to reduce the rate of patients giving up on treatment from 33% in 2006 to 13% in 2007.
Overall, the work of the Red Crescent Societies in Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan is contributing to the implementation of national TB programmes that are leading to a stabilisation and reduction in the incidence of TB in these countries.
TB mortality rates: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan 2003 - 2006 
In 2007, to help the British Red Cross to broaden its approach to the co-infection challenge, we further expanded our partnership and are supporting the charity over the next three years in their work to help local communities combat the threat in hard-hit areas of South Africa and Lesotho.
In South Africa, where over 50% of the population live below the poverty line, HIV is the single most important factor determining the increasing incidence of TB across the country. Over 72,000 adults living with HIV have TB. In Lesotho, life expectancy is estimated to be 39 years. Again, the increasing number of TB cases is fuelled by the prevalence of HIV.
In South Africa, the Red Cross is currently working in 10 areas within the four provinces of Western and Northern Province, Free State and Limpopo. By the end of 2007, over 2,000 people living with TB or TB/HIV had received improved TB care and treatment and a mobile team of volunteers had run awareness campaigns with 7,000 school children. In Lesotho, work is focused on providing vital support to isolated rural communities. A five-day training workshop was held for 45 carers and 11 project officers and 132 patients are already receiving TB treatment in 3 districts. The Red Cross are also working with the Ministry of Health on a national Stop TB campaign.
In 2007, our partnership with the British Red Cross was commended by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (businessfightsaids.org) as one of the leading community-based programmes in the fight against TB. The above content was externally assured as part of our annual CR reporting process by Bureau Veritas, February 2008 Latest news: June 2008
Improving healthcare in the developing world requires genuine partnership between local and national governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the international community, as well as the private sector. The first-ever HIV/TB Global Leaders’ Forum convened at the United Nations in June 2008, represented a key step in understanding and harnessing the full potential of such partnerships. The Forum was the first time that heads of government, public health and business leaders, heads of UN agencies and NGOs came together to seek a common way forward to confront HIV/TB. The Forum was convened by the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Stop TB, Dr Jorge Sampaio, and endorsed by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Dr Sampaio called upon participants to view the Call for Action on HIV/TB as a living document that stresses the need for partnership and coordination.
Mr Shimelis Adugna, Vice President of the International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent, made the following statement at the Forum.
“I will give one example of such a wide partnership arrangement today, hoping that it will be seen by governments and other stakeholders as a valuable way of proceeding. Our community-based work in TB and TB HIV co-infection needs the support of donors (contributors) prepared to take a long-term perspective. In this context, we very much appreciate the value of the partnership between the British Red Cross and AstraZeneca. This partnership has, since 2002, helped thousands of people living with TB to successfully complete their treatment and provided education to over 750,000 more people living at risk.”
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