Multidrug-resistant TB treatment in North Korea: is scale-up possible?

Kwonjune J. Seung, Molly Franke, Stephen W. Linton
Aug. 3, 2016, 1:45 p.m.

Summary points

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is one of the most serious public health problems facing North Korea, which has been included as one of the 30 countries on the World Health Organization's (WHO) high-burden MDR-TB country list.
Current international funding for TB control in North Korea is dominated by the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), which focuses almost exclusively on drug-susceptible TB.
The Eugene Bell Foundation (EBF) began treating MDR-TB patients in collaboration with the North Korea Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) in 2008. Since then, close to 4,000 patients have been enrolled in treatment, over 1,000 patients in 2015 alone.
The North Korean MDR-TB treatment program has demonstrated better results than many other countries. MDR-TB treatment should be scaled up immediately to the many North Koreans who need it.

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