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CONCLUSION This study revealed that brucellosis is unevenly distributed across different age groups, as well as regions of Armenia. Affected individuals did not seek medical attention after the onset of the symptoms for about 2 months. Therefore, the targeted educational campaigns could be of crucial importance to prevent the disease in humans, contribute to its early diagnosis and treatment. Copyright (c) 2019 Lilit Sargsyan, Karapet Davtyan, Katrina Hann, Samvel Gasparyan, Vladimir Davidyants, Vladimir Shekoyan, Gayane Poghosyan, Diana Petrosyan.INTRODUCTION Infection control at health facilities is an important part of TB control programmes. To assess the implementation of tuberculosis infection control (TB IC) measures and barriers hindering their implementation in TB health care facilities (HCFs) in Armenia; to report the feasibility of using the WHO recommended checklist. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional survey using WHO TB-IC checklist and direct observations was conducted between January and May 2018. RESULTS The survey included all 62 TB institutions in Armenia. TB HCFs in Armenia had implemented some recommended TB IC measures offering IC training to staff (48%), shortening time to diagnosing TB to less than one day (29%) and ensuring good ventilation (60%). N95 respirators were available in all HCFs. However, barriers that hindered implementation of TB IC measures were lack of training, a different incentive model for primary care doctors versus TB doctors and lack of space and poor conditions of the building. CONCLUSION The use of the standardized WHO checklist in this first evaluation of TB IC measures in Armenia was found to be useful and feasible in identifying areas of weak IC implementation and barriers to achieving good infection control. Other TB programs may benefit from the use of this model of assessment, based on the WHO checklist. Copyright (c) 2019 Joshua Chadwick Jayaraj, Karapet Davtyan, Hayk Davatyan, Lilit Khachatryan, Anush Khachatryan, Armen Hayrepetyan, Seda Abgaryan, Anthony Reid, Chinmay Laxmeshwar, Veerle Hermans, Maite Guardiola, Timothy Grieve, Rony Zachariah.INTRODUCTION Adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment as an important determinant for the successful cure of patients can be increased by focusing on patient satisfaction. The objective of this study was to evaluate patient satisfaction with TB services, different aspects of patient satisfaction, and demographic, health and treatment characteristics associated with satisfaction. METHODOLOGY Overall 505 randomly selected TB patients that received treatment during 2014-2015 in Armenia underwent a cross-sectional telephone survey. Patient satisfaction items were selected from the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18). The Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) and Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI) were also used. Treatment adherence was assessed using the Morisky Adherence Scale. RESULTS The respondents comprised 386 (76.4%) men and 119 (23.6%) women with a mean age of 45.5 ± 0.7 years. Nearly 99% (n = 500) of them were treatment-adherent. However, 45 (8.9%) mentioned the side effects as a reason for not following the treatment, revealing the non-adherence level of approximately 9%. About 93% of the patients were generally satisfied with the TB services, about 46% were satisfied with consultation and relational empathy and about 95% were satisfied with patient enablement. Being unsatisfied with TB services was associated with treatment non-adherence, inpatient treatment, drug-resistant TB, higher education, being unmarried, having a family income of below 50,000AMD (~120 USD) on average, being unsatisfied with consultation and empathy and place of residence. CONCLUSIONS This study reports that TB patients are highly satisfied with TB care in Armenia. However, addressing specific characteristics associated with satisfaction may improve the TB program. Copyright (c) 2019 Karapet Davtyan, Seda Aghabekyan, Hayk Davtyan, Armen Hayrapetyan, Garry Aslanyan.INTRODUCTION In 2013, the National Tuberculosis (TB) Program of Armenia introduced GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) assay to address World Health Organization (WHO) target of 80% (2020) of notified new and relapse TB cases to be tested with WHO recommended rapid diagnostic methods. This study aimed to assess the change in laboratory diagnostic profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosis after introduction of the Xpert assay from 2013 to 2017. METHODOLOGY Retrospective cohort analysis of all presumptive TB patients' records retrieved from the National Reference Laboratory database was performed. RESULTS This study showed increased trend of Xpert coverage for suspected TB cases from 25% in 2013 to 86% in 2017 which is in line with WHO TB global strategy's target of 80% in 2020. In 4.7% cases, Xpert tested positive while microscopy showed negative results. There was also an improved detection of Rifampicin resistance with increased concordance from 99.1% to 99.4% and decreased discordance from 6.7% to 1.4% between culture and Xpert results. CONCLUSION Armenia has achieved the 2020 target; in terms of utilizing the GeneXpert it is on track to achieve the End TB strategy target of 100% by 2025. The next step of this research will be assessment of the impact of GeneXpert and other TB tests utilization on the treatment outcomes in Armenia. Copyright (c) 2019 Eduard Yervand Kabasakalyan, Karapet Davtyan, Viktorya Cholakyans, Alvard Mirzoyan, Karine Kentenyants, Diana Petrosyan, Armen Hayrapetyan, Himanshu A. Gupte.INTRODUCTION In efforts to reach the 2020 Tuberculosis targets, the WHO advocates for an outpatient, people-centered model of TB care. To this end, the TB care system in Armenia underwent structural and financing reforms in 2014. Financing mechanism for inpatient TB facilities was changed from a fee per bed/day to a mixed type of financing that includes fixed and variable costs eliminating incentives for unnecessary and extended hospitalizations. Unfortunately, outpatient facilities continue to be financed through per-capita mechanism, resulting in high number of referrals and draining resources. This study aimed to assess the implementation of these reforms within the Armenian TB care system. AS2863619 price METHODOLOGY This was a retrospective cross-sectional study using nationwide programme data and survey data collected from healthcare facilities. RESULTS In 2017 a total of 901 TB patients were registered in outpatient facilities. Only 7.6% of total TB cases were diagnosed in outpatient facilities and 30.9% of the presumptive TB cases were referred to inpatient facilities.