Africa-Press – Malawi. Malawi is wining the fight against Tuberculosis (TB) following reports that the country has no patient suffering from Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB).
This is a type of TB with poor treatment outcomes. Health Minister Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda emphasizes the need for the general public to work closely is ending the disease by 2030.
Chiponda was speaking during World Tuberculosis Day in the capital Lilongwe on Thursday which falls on March 24 yearly. National TB Program organised the event under the theme, “Invest to End TB; Save Lives.”
She expressed happiness over decrease in the number of people suffering from TB demonstrating that the disease is preventable, treatable, and curable.
The health Minister said; “TB is still a public threat, and we still have it amongst us and as government and citizens, we all need to take a collective responsibility because it is treatable and curable,” said
“From next year’s budget, we need to have a certain percentage as a commitment fee from the government because as a government we are also committed to seeing that by the year 2030. TB should be a thing of the past.”
“Incidence of TB for Malawi have declined from 338 in every 100,000 in 2010 to 141 in every 100,000 in 2020. This represents a 58% reduction over a 10 year period. But all in all, Malawi is wining the fight against TB,” added Chiponda.
The Acting WHO Representative, Dr. Janet Kayita noted that order to meet the target, countries must achieve at least a 10% annual decline in TB incidence until 2025 that annual average decline should be 17%.
“We need to do much about Active Case Finding (ACF) because if we find people who are suffering from TB, the treatment is very successful and the cure rates are very high,” Kayita said. During the event journalists drawn from electronic, print and online media houses were awarded with medals for advancing TB reporting in the country.
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