Current Epidemiological Situation of Tuberculosis in Ukraine and Possible Ways for its Improvement
Authors: Valetskyi Yu. , Novobilsky R. , Valetska R. , Kalinchuk S. , Yatskevych O. , Nychyporuk V. 
Published: June 2024

Introduction. The epidemiological situation with tuberculosis in the world and in Ukraine remains difficult. Ukraine is in a hard position, especially with regard to its chemoresistant forms. Since 1995, an epidemic of this disease has been registered, and it continues to spread actively. Annually 10-11 thousand patients die from TB in Ukraine, accounting for more than 30 deaths every day. This epidemic continues to gain momentum and is becoming a threat even to the state's economy.The World Health Organization (WHO) considers TB, alongside with HIV infection, viral hepatitis and malaria, one of the most dangerous infectious diseases and an urgent problem for the whole world due to the increase in morbidity, mortality and other epidemiological indicators. Tuberculosis is included to the 10 leading causes of death in the world among infectious diseases. According to WHO experts, the difficult epidemiological situation regarding TB in the world will increase if an appropriate efforts are not made to control it. Some aspects of the TB current situation in Ukraine and the rest of the world have been covered in our previous publications. However, new and new challenges and circumstances arise in society that can affect the tuberculosis situation, therefore the relevance of our work and the goal we set for ourselves is undeniable.
The aim of the study. Conduct an analysis of the tuberculosis epidemic situation in Ukraine in 2018-2022 and propose measures for its improvement.
Materials and methods. The data of the official statistical information of the State Statistics Service and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, scientific works of domestic and foreign authors were analyzed. 8 scientists and organizers of the phthisiatric service from Ukraine and Poland were involved in order to interpret statistical data and identify cause-and-effect relationship.
Results. According to the data of the Center of medical statistics of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, during 2018-2022 the incidence of tuberculosis, together with relapses, decreased by 27.3 %. In this period, the incidence among children aged 0-14 years decreased by 16.9 %, and among children aged 15-17 years - by 45.8 %. So, it can be stated that TB shows aggressiveness and vulnerability to all social and age groups of the population, without exception, but its negative impact is especially felt among children and adolescents. The analysis of statistical indicators that reflect the epidemic situation and measures to combat TB provides an opportunity to objectively assess the trends of the epidemic process and determine priorities for reducing the spread of this disease among the population. The assessment of epidemiological indicators that highlight the state of TB requires special attention, since in recent years there has been a tendency to underestimate the significance of the TB problem, which is the result of various material, technical and economic factors.
Ensuring the success of measures to combat TB in Ukraine, in our opinion, is possible by implementing the following main measures: (1) implementation of mandatory preventive medical examinations of the entire population in order to timely identify cases of TB disease; (2) implementation of mandatory preventive medical examinations for TB of internally displaced persons during their registration and receipt of assistance, or when traveling abroad, etc.; (3) creation of a sufficient bed fund to ensure inpatient treatment of TB patients; (4) development of an effective law on forced treatment or isolation of TB patients who evade treatment because they pose a threat of infection to healthy persons.
Conclusions. Starting from 2020, there is a tendency to decrease the incidence of tuberculosis in Ukraine, although previously it was the opposite. A decrease in the prevalence of all forms of active tuberculosis among the population of Ukraine from 2018 to 2022 by 40.7 % was recorded. The highest morbidity rate of employees of healthcare institutions of Ukraine was recorded in 2018 - 6.0 per 10 000 employees.