Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 22, 2000
On Thursday the Federation and Russian Red Cross will participate in a joint press conference at the Itar-Tass centre in Moscow, along with representatives from the Ministry of Health, Tuberculosis Institute, Merlin, Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Soros-funded PHRI group.
The Federation has recently assisted the Russian Red Cross in the production of information materials to help fight TB, an increasingly important part of the process to bring the disease under control.
On Monday 20, the regional health co-ordinator took part in a visit to Moscow's infamous Matrosskaya Tishina prison. Although the Russian Red Cross (RRC) does not implement any TB programmes in prisons, support is provided through relief appeals which have donated badly-needed food to TB wards in prison hospitals.
Over 100 members of the press, embassies and other organisations took the tour of the Moscow jail, where they saw treatment programmes in action. However, the main problem in Russia and other countries in the former Soviet Union is that people, particularly the homeless and released prisoners, do not finish their course of drugs, and as a result multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains of TB develop. These are far more costly and time-consuming to cure. The RRC response pays special attention to released prisoners, ensuring that they know where help and treatment are available.
"Many of those (prisoners) will shortly be on the streets of Moscow", said Professor Alexander Gintzburg, Director of the Institute of Epidemiology of the Russian Medical Academy. "It would be only natural to organise treatment here before infectious patients are released into the community. But the prison health system is chronically underfunded. As a result all of us - law abiding citizens and convicts alike - are at risk."
The head of the national prison system, Colonel Alexander Coronets agreed: "Our jails are a revolving door - the cross-roads for the whole of Russia and the focal point of the TB epidemics."
Meanwhile, Dr Alex Goldfarb of PHRI Moscow pointed to a worrying future: "when the epidemics of MDR TB and AIDS converge, the explosion of TB incidence will be like a bacterial Chernobyl with fallout felt around the globe. Unless resources are found to address the Russian TB crisis now, it will come to haunt us later at a much larger cost in life any money."
The Federation supported Russian Red Cross programme is concentrating on seven pilot regions spread across Russia, focussing on information, education and communication to ensure compliance with treatment, alongside changing stereotypes and prejudices on TB. It also offers social support such as food and hygiene parcels and soup kitchens, and has a limited medical input, providing certain lab and diagnostic equipment.
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