January 22, 2025, New Delhi: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders, in partnership with the National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), hosted a panel discussion today to mark the culmination of 25 years of continuous medical efforts to battle tuberculosis (TB) in Mumbai. The event, held at Fire, The Park, New Delhi, brought together stakeholders, policymakers, and public health experts to reflect on MSF’s impactful work and discuss the way forward as Indian stakeholders take the lead in tackling drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in India.
The event unveiled a comprehensive report documenting MSF’s years of medical innovation and progress in treating patients with TB, with a focus on DR-TB. The report highlights MSF’s patient-centered approach and the project’s significant achievements, particularly in its final phase when it concentrated on DR-TB. MSF clinics saw 62% overall treatment success rate among the patients who had already failed previous DRTB regimes; a remarkable 76% success rate for children and adolescents, and a pioneering Imipenem-based salvage regimen that achieved a 58% success rate among patients with no other treatment options. A total of 828 patients with the most complex DR-TB were enrolled at the MSF clinic between 2006 and 2023.
The highlight of the event on Wednesday was the roundtable discussion where lessons learned were shared from MSF’s collaboration with the NTEP and the BMC in strengthening DR-TB diagnostics and treatment services. The roundtable provided a platform for program implementers, policymakers, and experts to discuss key challenges faced by DR-TB patients and explore strategies for managing the disease, with a major focus on expanding access to Imipenem as a salvage regimen and furthering treatment efforts in high DR-TB burden areas.
The panel discuss These participants reflected on MSF’s contributions to strengthening DR-TB diagnostics and treatment services in collaboration with the NTEP and the BMC, emphasising its critical role in shaping TB care in India.
The discussion addressed key challenges faced by DR-TB patients and explored strategies to improve care delivery. Major themes included improving access to Imipenem, establishing scalable models of care for its delivery, enhancing pediatric DR-TB care, and expanding palliative care services. These priorities aim to address gaps in India’s National TB Programme and ensure equitable access to life-saving treatments.
Speaking at the event, Farhat Mantoo, Executive Director of MSF South Asia, emphasized the importance of collaboration in advancing TB care: “Today’s roundtable marks an important moment allowing us to reflect on the lessons learned over the last 25 years and forge a path forward to address the challenges of DR-TB. Our partnership with NTEP and BMC has shown that a collective approach can lead to meaningful progress. However, we must continue to prioritise ensuring access to effective treatments and care for all, especially in high-burden areas, if we are to make a lasting impact in the fight against TB in India.”
Head of Mission for Operational Centre of Brussels of MSF, Imtiaz Wadood, added: “Our work in Mumbai has demonstrated the transformative impact of patient-centered care and innovative approaches. However, the fight against TB is far from over. We must work together to make treatments like Imipenem-based regimens for niche cohort accessible and to scale up holistic care models”.
The comprehensive capitalisation report and the panel discussion serve as both a reflection on MSF’s contributions and a call to action for policymakers, public health practitioners, and the global community. The report further highlights the need for incorporating -based treatments like Imipenem, for the eligible cohort into India’s National TB Programme, ensuring the availability of child-friendly diagnostic tools and medications, expanding access to palliative care, and fostering community engagement to combat TB-related stigma.
