RESEARCH ARTICLE
Improving Surveillance on Tuberculosis and HIV Co-Infection in Kazakhstan
Aigul Tursynbayeva1, 2, Maria Idrissova*, 2, Tatyana Markabaeva1, Gayni Usenova3, Gulbaram Utepkaliyeva4, Guljakhan Akhmetova5, Lazzat Suleymenova6, Gaukhar Urankayeva7, Susan van den Hof8, 9
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
First Page: 54
Last Page: 59
Publisher Id: TOIDJ-7-54
DOI: 10.2174/1874279301307010054
Article History:
Received Date: 24/9/2012Revision Received Date: 8/1/2013
Acceptance Date: 9/1/2013
Electronic publication date: 19/4/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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.
