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21 April 2022 In line with plans to support countries to strengthen their health sector response, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and country office are supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran by providing technical assistance during a two-day workshop on development of National Strategic Plan to end tuberculosis (TB) in the country.

The strategic workshop was officially commenced during a ceremony on Sunday, 17 April, in the presence of WHO Representative in Islamic Republic of Iran Dr Syed Jaffar Hussain, Director of the Iranian Centre for Disease Control Dr Mohammad Mahdi Gouya, National Director of TB and Leprosy Control Department Dr Mahshid Nasehi, WHOs International Consultant Dr Uzman Khan, and officials from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

The workshop took place on 17 and 18 April as a collaborative effort between EMRO and Iranian stakeholders during which the National Strategic Plan will be finalized.

The workshop helped the national TB program in development of appropriate national policies, and strategies for implementation of comprehensive programmes for prevention and control of communicable diseases aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3 which calls for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.

While Iran is a low prevalent country for TB thanks to intense preventive, diagnostic, curative as well as follow-up mechanisms in place, the triggers and the vulnerability for TB to shift from low-prevalent to high-prevalent are very much there, said Dr Hussain in his opening remarks. The cross-border movement of people from Irans neighbouring countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan who have high burden of the disease can potentially cause an increase of TB in Iran, so the country needs to invest domestically more in diagnostics, treatment, control, and human resources for the TB programme particularly as COVID-19 has affected our health systems and services worldwide.

Dr Hussain also stressed the importance of the workshop to pave the way for translation of Irans global commitments including the WHO Multisectoral Accountability Framework for TB into tangible actions through mechanisms for multi-stakeholder national coordination, review, and monitoring and evaluation.

The three mentioned mechanisms are fundamental to the development of national strategic plans for disease elimination. Long-term disease elimination strategic planning with budgeting based on in-depth analysis and evaluation of the disease programmes often require additional expertise and assistance. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of plans and periodic review of performance helps such national programmes improve and stay abreast of changing priorities.

He also took note of the impact of international sanctions on Irans access to global knowledge, developments in technology, diagnostic and therapeutic tools which pose a great vulnerability to Iran as far as TB is concerned.

Dr Martin Van den Boom, WHO Regional Advisor, who addressed this workshop virtually, stressed that TB elimination can be achieved through a multisectoral approach, ensuring the audience that EMROs Department of Universal Health Coverage for Communicable Diseases is providing technical assistance to meet the specific demand of each country, as part of its mandate.

The confab was intended to support the National Tuberculosis Programme of Iran with the development of a National strategic plan to end TB according to most recent global guidance and available frameworks.

Read more:
WHO support to strengthening the health sector's response to TB in Islamic Republic of Iran - Iran (Islamic Republic of) - ReliefWeb