The webinar “Near Point-of-Care TB Diagnostics: From Innovation to Access” took place on October 7, 2026. The event was organized by the TB Europe Coalition together with its country partners, SMIT (Moldova) and KNCV Tajikistan, within the interregional COMBAT DR-TB project funded by Unitaid.
During the webinar, which brought together more than 130 participants, the following topics were discussed:
• WHO recommendations on TB screening and diagnostics;
• practical application and limitations of emerging near point-of-care (nPOC) diagnostic approaches;
• potential integration of nPOC diagnostics into national TB diagnostic pathways, including country approaches from the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Tajikistan;
• the role of communities in bringing TB screening and diagnostics closer to people.
We would like to thank our webinar speakers for sharing their expertise and delivering insightful talks:
• Alexei Korobitsyn, Technical Officer, Department for HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections, World Health Organization
• Stijn Deborggraeve, Diagnostics Advisor for ArcTB, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
• Svetlana Doltu, MPH, Director, Act for Involvement, Republic of Moldova
• Aslidin Rajabov, Deputy Director of the National TB Program of Tajikistan, Republic of Tajikistan
• Oxana Ruscineanu, SMIT, Moldova
• Surayo Odinaeva, KNCV, Tajikistan
We are also grateful to all participants for their interest in innovative approaches to TB diagnostics and their active engagement throughout the webinar!
If you were unable to join the webinar, you can watch the recording via link https://youtu.be/SgQvSYzRRho. Please note that to access the interpretation between Russian and English, you need to select the corresponding audio track in the video settings.
