KARACHI: TB becoming a global challenge again: experts
KARACHI, Feb 10: Experts at a media workshop expressed their concern over the resurgence of tuberculosis in the country, and said that together with the HIV/Aids, TB might become a major killer disease again in coming years.
The workshop was organised under the auspices of the National TB Control Programme, a subsidiary of the federal ministry of health and the TB Control Programme, Sindh.
The aim for holding the workshop was to orientate media about the growing threat of TB prevalence and efforts being made to control it in the country, particularly in Sindh.
Experts, while discussing different aspects of TB, noted that it claims more than 70,000 lives in Pakistan alone every year and has already been declared ‘a national emergency’.
Dr Raja Ayyub of the Global Fund, Islamabad, Dr Iqtidar Ahmed Chaudhry, Director TB Control Programme, Sindh, Dr Nazeer Ahmed Shaikh, NPO of WHO in Sindh, Dr Amanullah Ansari, NPO of WHO, Dr Ismat Ara, Deputy Director of NTP, Karachi, and Mr Wasiq Mehmood, Communications Coordinator of NTP, Islamabad, addressed the participants.
The experts and organisers were of the view that the ‘Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) proved to be the most effective treatment for TB today which offered complete cure under a health worker, family or a responsible person.
The panelists said that the success of DOTS was evident from the fact that it gave more than 95 per cent result in curing TB patients in a DOTS environment.
Specialists described different types, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and stigma attached to the disease. They said: “cough prolonging three weeks or more, fever, low appetite, blood in sputum and sweating at night are the symptoms of TB but final diagnosis can be made after analysis of sputum only.”
Dr Ansari, one of the speakers said that TB was the only disease which had been declared global and national emergency because of its resurgence in recent years. The participants stressed on a vital role the media should play in educating masses about TB.—PPI
