The Open Infectious Diseases Journal
2013, 7 : 54-59Published online 2013 April 19. DOI: 10.2174/1874279301307010054
Publisher ID: TOIDJ-7-54
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Improving Surveillance on Tuberculosis and HIV Co-Infection in
Kazakhstan
2 KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, Regional Office for Central Asia, Almaty, Kazakhstan
3 Republican AIDS Center, Almaty, Kazakhstan
4 Almaty City Tuberculosis Center, Almaty, Kazakhstan
5 Almaty City AIDS Center, Almaty, Kazakhstan
6 Almaty Oblast TB Center, Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan
7 Almaty Oblast AIDS Center, Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan
8 KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, The Hague, The Netherlands
9 Department of Global Health, Academic Medical Center, Universty of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, The Netherlands
* Address correspondence to this author at the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, P.O. Box 146, 2501 CC, The Hague, The Netherlands.Tel: +31 70 4270985; Fax: +31 70 3584004; E-mail: vandenhofs@kncvtbc.nl
ABSTRACT
In Kazakhstan, tuberculosis (TB) patients are screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and HIVinfected individuals are screened for active TB. However, there is no exchange of case-based information between the TB and HIV/AIDS programs.
To assess the proportion of co-infected patients registered as such in both registers and to assess reasons for patients missing in either register, we compared 2009 data from the TB and HIV/AIDS registers from two areas in Kazakhstan. Almaty city and the adjacent Almaty oblast, represent 22% of the country’s population. Also, co-infected patients as well as a number of HIV-infected individuals were interviewed.
In total, 85 patients diagnosed with TB and HIV were registered, of whom 73 were registered in the TB register, 79 in the HIV/AIDS register, and 67 in both registers. In the TB register, twelve patients were wrongly recorded as HIV negative. Only 9 (11%) out of the 82 patients who started treatment (three died shortly after diagnosis) had been prescribed antiretroviral treatment.
In conclusion, gaps and mistakes with regard to TB/HIV patients were identified in both registers. Collaboration between the TB and HIV/AIDS centers was strengthened, which includes routine monitoring of TB/HIV diagnoses and treatment. This should lead to improved quality of care for TB/HIV patients and an improved insight in TB/HIV epidemiology.