Anti-TB programme launched

International relief and development NGO Mercy Corps, in collaboration with Pakistan's National Tuberculosis Control Programme (NTCP), has launched an anti-tuberculosis (TB) drive in the two southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh.

"Over 11,000 TB patients will benefit every year directly from this project through the strengthening of existing treatment facilities in 60 diagnostic centres of government district hospitals in the target areas," Dr Saeedullah Khan, head of Mercy Corps’ anti-TB project, said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday. "Thereby it’ll reduce TB prevalence and further transmission to over 6 million people from vulnerable communities," he claimed.

Costing over US $3 million, the three-year programme - aimed at expanding TB detection and treatment facilities - is funded by the European Commission (EC) under its initiative for ‘Aid for Poverty-related Diseases’.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), TB is primarily an illness of the respiratory system, spread by coughing and sneezing. Each year about 2 million people in the world die of this curable disease.

Tuberculosis is endemic in Pakistan, where approximately 1.5 million people are infected, ranking the country sixth among 22 high-burden TB countries worldwide. An estimated 250,000 new TB cases develop annually, mostly in the productive age group of 14-49 years.

Following the re-emergence of TB, the WHO declared a global emergency. However, in Pakistan, TB was declared a national emergency only in 2001, with the aim of expanding a WHO-approved Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) programme for the treatment of the disease across the country.

"As of 30 June this year, we’ve achieved 100 percent DOTS coverage in all 124 districts nationwide, with free diagnosis and treatment facilities available in public-sector health facilities," Dr Syed Karam Shah, national manager of the NTCP, said.

According to experts, though DOTS treatment is available throughout Pakistan, "It’ll take another five to 10 years to ensure that all TB patients are being treated under the DOTS programme," the NTCP manager said.

Mercy Corps’ anti-TB programme will target 13 districts in total - four from central Sindh province, including Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Larkana and ShahdadKot districts, with another nine from central and northern parts of Balochistan province.

"This [project] will also enhance patient treatment and care by creating awareness and behaviour change through effective community education among the rural population of Balochistan and Sindh," Khan said. To ascertain the TB prevalence, Mercy Corps will conduct a baseline survey in its target districts in November this year.

Most of the disease burden comes from densely populated urban slums, rural and remote mountainous areas. Health professionals cite poverty, overcrowding, malnourishment, and HIV infection among the factors that can make the body's immune system weaker, making people susceptible to TB.

“In fact, TB and poverty are co-related. While about 65 to 70 percent population lives in extremely poor conditions nationwide with meagre resources and few healthcare facilities available, the problem gets more complicated with the rate of re-emergence getting faster – it’s a vicious circle," Khan noted.

The NTCP aims to reduce TB prevalence and mortality rates by 50 percent by 2015. Pakistan’s efforts to control TB are supported by over 12 international partners, along with an extended network of health workers and volunteers working at the grassroots level.