Pakistan's National Tuberculosis Control Program will ensure that people living with the disease have consistent drug access through improved resource management
Pakistan's National Tuberculosis Control Program will ensure that people living with the disease have consistent drug access through improved resource management and coordination among partners, program manager Hassan Sadiq said recently, The International News reports.
Speaking at a meeting to review Pakistan's Ministry of Health and its programs, Sadiq said that the country achieved nationwide DOTS coverage in 2005. He added that Pakistan has increased its TB case detection and treatment success rates to 70% and 87%, respectively.The country with support from the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as other partners such as the World Health Organization, will make further efforts to improve TB care by focusing on the Stop TB Strategy and United Nations Millennium Development Goal targets, according to Sadiq.
The Global Fund has pledged a $56 million, five-year TB grant to Pakistan, Sadiq said, adding that government and private sector partners will manage the grant.
Also during the meeting, Health Minister Ejaz Rahim called on program managers to increase their efforts to achieve the MDGs.
About 280,000 people develop TB annually in Pakistan, and about 62,000 people in the country die from the disease each year, according to the News.
Source-Kaiser Family Foundation
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