TB Training center of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation can become WHO collaborative base in Ukraine

In April 2013, Vaira Leimane, the international expert of the World Health Organization (WHO), visited the Training center on combating the epidemic of tuberculosis (Donetsk) established under Rinat Akhmetov Foundation for Development of Ukraine funding. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate the readiness of the Training Center to acquire the status of WHO collaborative center in Ukraine. This status will enable the center to follow not only national, but also international standards to conduct training on TB counteraction, and give an opportunity to share experiences extensively with foreign colleagues.

Along with TB diagnosis and treatment, Rinat Akhmetov Foundation actively develops the competence of medical and non-medical staff (volunteers, media representatives, social workers, etc.), TB doctors involved in TB treatment. TB Training center was established by the Foundation in 2010, on the basis of the Donetsk regional TB hospital jointly with NGO "Stop TB" in cooperation with WHO, the Directorate of Health at Donetsk Regional State Administration and Donetsk National Medical University named after M. Gorky. By the end of 2012, during the center operation, 2153 various specialists (doctors and nurses, media representatives, governmental bodies, etc.) were trained, and 115 training events were hosted.

In 2012, the Training Center applied to the European Office to obtain WHO collaborative center status. Donetsk regional TB hospital, being the base for the center, has sufficient experience in the MDR-TB treatment; it also was the first facility in Ukraine to launch statistics collection on MDR-TB prevalence and treatment, and it provides training to regional specialists.

During the visit, Vaira Leimane was acquainted with training programs, the stages of trainers’ preparation, the procedure of monitoring and evaluation of the acquired skills after training, hospital operation, the electronic register, etc. The international WHO expert noted a row of positive issues in the Training Center operation:

• excellent physical infrastructure;

• strong team of coaches and wisely structured design of the training of trainers (ToT) program;

• availability of the developed training programs on infection control, MDR-TB;

• a unique module for nurses of DOTS-cabinets (this category is very rare in the world study programs);

• an adequate and proper monitoring and evaluation system to follow-up implementation of the new skills and knowledge.

Among the areas for improvement, Vaira Leimane noted the need to develop a new training module on MDR-TB counteraction, to comprehensively implement an electronic register, as well as the need to study English for the coaches of the center. Within a few weeks, the expert shall provide her summary recommendations to the Headquarter in Copenhagen, and, in the case of a positive evaluation, the Training Center shall obtain the status of the WHO collaborative center in Ukraine.