ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: Afghan refugees in Pakistan are suffering from tuberculosis (TB) as a result of overcrowded living conditions, poor ventilation and malnutrition, an American Refugee Committee (ARC) team disclosed on an assessment mission.

“Pakistan’s health system is already strained and desperately needs equipment, medicine and technical advice to stop the spread of TB,” said Joe Bock, ARC’s interim executive director.

Bock led a six-person team who met with government, health and community representatives in Islamabad and Peshawar, last week.

The ARC is exploring feasibility of setting up a programme in Pakistan, to implement a computerised system to track patients, even after they return to Afghanistan; train female healthcare workers and patient supporters; launch educational programmes about TB and HIV/AIDS; help to improve the diagnostic capabilities of local laboratories and carry out a survey on drug resistance.

A press release said the ARC plans to conduct more field research in Pakistan and is developing a proposal that will be submitted to potential donors.

The team, which included several prominent health experts, also visited hospitals in Jallozai and the Kacha Gari refugee camp and a clinic at the New Shamshatoo refugee camp, all in border areas. Health experts informed the team that one out of every three children in the camps were malnourished.

The ARC is also assessing ways to apply the Cambodian Health Committee’s (CHC) expertise on tuberculosis to treat refugees and other vulnerable people.

The ARC would like to help link Cambodians with Pakistanis and Afghans who are responding to the TB problem.

More than 3 million Afghan refugees reside in Pakistan, who have fled civil unrest, drought and the recent anti-terrorist military conflict. About half of them live in camps along the border.

ARC’s internationally recognized methodology for treating refugees with TB involves setting up a community monitoring system, including home visits, to ensure that patients take their medications as long as necessary to be cured.

One option in Pakistan would be to work with local women’s groups that could send representatives into homes and camps to identify and treat female TB patients, Bock said.

Members of the ARC team, who carried out health assessment during the visit included Clifton E Barry, chief of tuberculosis research section, Laboratory of Host Defences, National Institutes of Health; Dr Rashid Chotani, assistant professor, Centre for International Emergency; Dr Anne Goldfeld, investigator for The Centre for Blood Research; Boston; Nancy Roberts, ARC board member; and Sok Thim, director of the Cambodian Health Committee.