The Movement of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis across Borders in East Africa Needs a Regional and Global Solution: e1001791

Summary Points * Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) and other deadly infectious diseases commonly occur in states suffering from political turmoil and armed conflict. * The same conditions that promote MDR TB and other diseases often diminish the capacity of the public health system to address these needs, leading patients to seek care in other countries. * In East Africa, a large number of patients from Somalia with MDR TB crossed the border to Kenya seeking treatment. Other places exist in the world where conflict, collapse of political systems, natural disasters, and other factors simultaneously fuel the development of MDR TB or other communicable diseases, cripple the infrastructure needed to address it, and promote the migration of people in ways that causes it to spread.