How a Refugee Crisis Revitalised Poland’s TB Care

10 January 2026

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, millions fled to neighbouring states. Many headed to Poland, and within weeks the country had become home to more than 1·5 million Ukrainian refugees.

As in any refugee crisis, there was a risk of illness and disease spreading, but there was a particular concern at the time among health experts about the spread of TB, and especially the much harder to treat drug-resistant TB, given Ukraine has one of the highest burdens of the disease in the world.

Poland’s approach to diagnostics, treatment, and prevention has been transformed, improving care for both refugees and Poles.

Read the full World Report, published in The Lancet, here.

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