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[The new national program for tuberculosis elimination in Israel]
Daniel Chemtob1, Alex Leventhal, Yitzhak Berlowitz
1Israel Ministry of Health, Jerusalem.
Harefuah
|April 12, 2002
Summary
Israel
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Infectious Disease Control
Context:
- Rising tuberculosis (TB) incidence in Israel due to immigration.
- Establishment of a new national TB control program aligned with WHO guidelines.
- Legislative, administrative, and budgetary support from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Sick Funds.
Purpose:
- To inform Israeli physicians about the new TB control program.
- To detail the program's theoretical and practical implementation.
Summary:
- The program centralizes TB care in nine national centers, utilizing directly observed therapy (DOT) for all patients.
- Community clinics manage daily treatment, supervised by District Health Offices.
- Dedicated centers provide hospitalization with isolation facilities; centralized labs offer timely susceptibility testing.
Impact:
- Achieved nearly 93% treatment completion under DOT in the first two years.
- Significant improvement compared to 54% completion before the program.
- Demonstrates the effectiveness of centralized care and DOT in TB management.