The Malaysian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (MAPTB) was honoured to be represented by its Honorary Chest Consultant, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Abdul Razak bin Abdul Muttalif, at the PeerLINC Southeast Asia Regional Workshop on Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB).
These interconnected challenges shaped the ‘PeerLINC Regional Capacity Building Program for Southeast Asia: Strengthening Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis,’ organized by PeerLINC Knowledge Hub in partnership with TB Alliance and the Tropical Disease Foundation (TDF), with support from the Australian Government through AusAID. The program was held from 6 to 9 July 2026 in Makati City, Philippines.
Countries across Southeast Asia are working to expand access to newer, shorter, and all-oral treatment regimens for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). Making these treatments widely available requires national TB programs to align clinical decision-making, laboratory capacity, drug safety monitoring, patient support, data systems, and decentralized service delivery.
The four-day program brought together National TB Program representatives, clinical specialists, public health professionals, and community advocates from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Participants represented different levels of DR-TB implementation and contributed experience from national programs, treatment facilities, laboratories, local health systems, and community organizations.
Participants visited the TDF clinic and laboratory in Makati City to observe diagnostic workflows, drug susceptibility testing, treatment enrollment, clinical documentation, adverse-event monitoring, and the use of digital adherence technologies.
The workshop concluded with each country delegation identifying priority actions for the next six to twelve months. These country-owned plans are intended to help teams apply the learning to their own clinical, diagnostic, programmatic, patient-support, and equity-related gaps.