PESHAWAR, March 20: Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to form a joint bloc to combat cross-border transmission of tuberculosis, officials said.

Dr Abdul Ghafoor, manager of the tuberculosis control programme, NWFP, said Pakistan ranked eighth among 22 ‘high burden’ countries in the world, adding that last year its rank was six. He said that of 250,000 new tuberculosis cases registered each year in Pakistan, 40,000 belonged to the NWFP.

He said a meeting of health officials of the two countries would soon be held to work out modalities to put brakes on cross-border transmission of the disease.

He said that under the Millennium Development Goals, Pakistan was required to reduce tuberculosis prevalence and deaths by 50 per cent till 2015.

He said that according to World Health Organisation standards, detection rate of new sputum smear-positive tuberculosis patients was 70 per cent and treatment success rate was 85 per cent, adding that last year Pakistan achieved 92 per cent success in treatment.

Afghan tuberculosis patients did not continue their treatment due to their frequent travel to Afghanistan, causing cross-border spread of infection, Dr Ghafoor said while speaking at the launching ceremony of tuberculosis story books, tuberculosis documentary and media workshop, organised by the provincial tuberculosis control programme in collaboration with the GTZ at a hotel here on Thursday.

Dr Hans-Uwe Wendl-Richter, team leader of the GTZ, said the organisation was committed to serving the ailing humanity and it would continue its efforts to fight the menace of tuberculosis.

He appreciated the tuberculosis control programme for publishing books relating to tuberculosis for schoolchildren and making the documentary. He stressed the need for distributing the books among children and hoped that the material would be used effectively. He suggested that the documentary should be dubbed in other local languages so that more and more people could benefit form it.

He also urged the media to play its role in creating awareness among the people about the disease. He said people in remote areas of the NWFP did not know about the free treatment being given to tuberculosis patients all over the province.

Dr Abdul Latif, national programme officer, tuberculosis control programme, said tuberculosis was 100 per cent curable and it did not spread through handshake or eating together. He said the disease was not genetically transmitted. He rejected the notion that tuberculosis led to infertility among female patients.

He said the incidence of tuberculosis in Pakistan was 181 out of 100,000 people.

NWFP health secretary Dr Tashfeen, who was the chief guest on the occasion, urged social circles to support the government in its efforts to control the disease.