Thailand - Stop TB Partnership

egional level, and does not give an accurate picture of overall funding for TB control activities.
Furthermore, a significant portion of the NTP’s budget is now being covered with
resources provided by the Global Fund; 132 45 percent of the NTP’s 2005 budget came from
this source. This increasing reliance on outside funding raises some concerns about longterm
sustainability of important NTP programs.
At present, comprehensive NTP budgetary data is not available for the period from
2003 to 2005, and there is no system in place to ensure budgetary transparency moving
forward. In order to obtain a more comprehensive estimate of TB spending, the NTP should
implement a financial monitoring system to track budgets and available funding for all
provinces and districts.
Monitoring and evaluation
The NTP publishes official quarterly and annual reports detailing its TB control activities,
as required by the DOTS strategy. These reports are reviewed by the provincial chief medical
officers, the TB Cluster, and the DDC, and are available publicly on the Internet and in
brochures and reports.
Infrastructure, drugs, and research
Primary health care system
The NTP provides TB control services through the primary health care system. TB treatment
is provided through local health centers to maximize the accessibility of services to patients.
Decentralization of the health care system has created opportunities to enhance pro-poor,
equity-oriented approaches to communicable disease prevention and treatment.
Most notably, village health volunteers are intended to act as a two-way link between
communities and the health care system. In addition to providing health education and services
(such as DOT), they are well positioned to provide feedback to health authorities on
community health issues and priorities. Village health volunteers constitute a central pillar
of the decentralization process, and the success of the pro-poor strategy is largely dependent
on their skills, capacity, commitment, and confidence to reach out and to work positively
with poor and excluded groups. As noted above, village health volunteers need additional
support, training, and motivation to fill this extremely critical role.
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TB POLICY IN THAILAND