Moldova: What Happens to MDR-TB Patients?
David Rochkind
Moldova has one of the highest rates of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) anywhere in the world. This deadly strain of the disease can emerge as a result of low quality health systems, poor quality drugs, lack of accessibility to treatment, and when a patient intermittently takes his medicine or fails to complete his treatment. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Moldova faced a huge economic shortfall, which exacerbated all of these conditions. The health care system crumbled, poverty rose and the country became more vulnerable to the emerging TB crisis. It is now estimated that 44 percent of all TB patients in the country are infected with MDR-TB.
As hospitals closed down and jobs became scarce, very few social programs were put in place to help manage the myriad of problems that the country’s population was now facing. In essence, TB patients were left on their own to deal with the consequences of being infected with a contagious disease they knew very little about. Over the past 10 years the country has begun to implement new programs focusing on TB, but there is still very little education about the disease and even fewer resources to help treat and prevent it. TB seems to take a back seat to other social and health issues, evidenced by the fact that there are only four organizations in the country that work on tuberculosis. While the overall TB numbers have dropped or stayed stagnant in recent years, the number of MDR-TB patients has risen, showing that Moldova’s infrastructure is currently incapable of dealing with the complex problems that TB treatment and prevention present.
