Uzbekistan

The World Health Organization estimates that 8,700 people in Uzbekistan are stricken with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis—or MDR–TB—each year. Patients with MDR–TB must endure an even longer, even more painful treatment regimen than the already tedious process patients with drug–responsive TB go through. Due to high costs and the complexity of diagnostics and treatment, most countries with a high TB burden struggle to treat those who need it.

On June 10, violent clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan, lasting five days, leading to major population displacement both in and outside the country. Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) began its emergency response on June 15.

In the regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad, MSF continues to provide medical and psychological care and to distribute relief items to the many people who have been affected and displaced by violence.

Andrei Slavuckij, head of MSF's programs in southern Kyrgyzstan, describes the situation in Osh, two weeks after violent clashes killed hundreds of people.

MSF now has six teams on the ground providing medical care to people wounded or displaced by the recent violence in Kyrgyzstan

MSF teams are arriving on the ground on both sides of the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan to provide emergency assistance to those in need.

In Karakalpakstan, a semi-autonomous region of Uzbekistan, MSF has been running a project treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) since 2003. MDR-TB is a debilitating disease and requires lengthy treatment with a complex combination of toxic drugs, which often have appalling side effects.

by Elena Dubrovskaya, a freelance journalist specializing in Central Asian affairs