In February 2019, 14-year-old Renat and his mother were both diagnosed with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) – the most pernicious form of the disease -- and hospitalized at the TB dispensary in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast. New anti-TB drugs were not yet available to them, and the probability of curing their illness was reportedly less than 30 percent.

New drugs and treatment protocols have increased the chance of survival for XDR-TB patients, which is the most virulent and difficult to treat type of TB. XDR-TB has developed in part because too many TB patients do not adhere to their treatments to the end.

USAID’s Challenge TB activity led the way in the introduction of new drugs and shorter, more effective XDR-TB treatment regimens in Ukraine. The USAID activity introduced bedaquiline, a new TB medicine, to Ukraine in July of 2017. Based on the results of a successful pilot within the framework of the Challenge TB activity, Ukraine’s National TB program scaled up access to this new treatment approach across the country. The new drug reached Donetsk Oblast in May of 2019 and was provided to Renat and his mother.

The two were determined to follow treatment through to recovery. Their unwavering adherence to the treatment process showed progress two months after they were hospitalized, when the pair’s test results indicated that they were no longer infectious and could continue treatment at home.

The USAID team has continued to upgrade treatment approaches in Ukraine to align them with the most recent international recommendations. In May 2020, during an online conference on the case management of TB, drug resistant TB, and TB/HIV, USAID and Donetsk Oblast specialists conducted a diligent analysis of patient treatment responses, and decided to reduce the length of treatment by six months due to the success of the new treatment protocols.

The case of Renat and his mother is positive proof that XDR-TB is curable if the patient receives proper treatment and is committed to stay the course to the end.

Liudmyla with her daughter

Nataliia Klymenko, Head of TB Department of Donetsk Oblast Clinical TB Dispensary in Kramatorsk