Gorlovka Town will see a launch of a department for fighting drug-resistant TB on 2 July, 2007 at 12.00 under a joint project of the WHO Country Office in Ukraine and the Foundation for Development of Ukraine. The project also includes buying medicines, training doctors, purchasing laboratory equipment, and launching three more departments for drug-resistant TB treatment in Volnovakha, Donetsk, and Schakhtyorsk.
 

The department repairs are financed by the regional budget (UAH 2m) and the Foundation for Development of Ukraine (UAH 150,000) with technical assistance of the WHO. The unit is designed for 50 hospital beds.

 
The department will be opened at the following address - 16 Platona Str., Gorlovka-25

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The project for fighting drug-resistant TB is organized under the regional program Fighting TB Epidemic in 2007-2011.

Drug-resistant TB appears in cases when a patient treated from ordinary form of TB does not take full course of antibiotics or takes medicine irregularly. A drug-resistant TB patient can stay infectious and exudes tubercle bacillus when coughing and sneezing. Adults and children in any age may get infected immediately with drug-resistant TB from such patient.

MDR-TB treatment requires a longer therapy, while medicines for its treatment are much more expensive.

The spread of drug-resistant-TB totaled 15.6 % among new TB cases and 41.0% in re-treatment cases.

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