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TB kills one in every 10 minutes in Bangladesh |
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March 25, 2000
The
tuberculosis or what it is popularly known as TB kills 60.000 people every
year or one in every ten minutes in Bangladesh as the United Nations
Children Fund (UNICEF) said the country is the worst victim of the disease
in Southeast Asia, says BSS. "Controlling
TB is a priority for Bangladesh and for the world", the UNICEF said in
a statement as the country today joined the international community in
observing the World Tuberculosis (TB) day. Experts,
said like several other contagious diseases, TB too was closely linked with
poverty. adding that the fight against such diseases must be an integral
part of the country's poverty eradication strategies. "TB
is treatable within weeks, yet it is a growing problem in Bangladesh, mainly
because of increasing poverty leading to poor living conditions and
ignorance and neglect of TB programs". the UNICEF said. Dr.
Arata Kochi, who leads the World Health Organization's fight against the
disease added : "In countries where tuberculosis flourishes, social and
economic development are compromised. and in those where national security,
living conditions and education and health provision are poor, tuberculosis
abounds. UNICEF
and others said despite the government efforts, there are 600,000 existing
cases of TB, with 300,000 new cases reported every year in Bangladesh as
doctors said strains of the disease were becoming more and more resistant to
medication. "To
make maters worse, TB and HIV/AIDS support and host each other. Recent
medical reports indicate that when TB is correctly treated, the incidence of
HIV/AIDS is also dramatically reduced", the UNICEF statement said. The
World Bank added: "Worse yet, the lethal combination of TB and HIV I
AIDS compounds this cycle, increasing the burden on health finance and,
in turn, placing the entire public finance under enormous pressure". Doctors
said although effective treatment of TB was possible and affordable, the
number of multi drug resistant forms of the disease was on the rise making
the treatment complicated. "Treating
a normal case of TB with the six-month of drugs (DOTS) cost as little as 11
dollar while treating multi drug resistant case costs one hundred times the
'amount", the UNICEF said.
Source : The Bangladesh Observer |