Capital starts new bid to rid city of disease

A NEW tuberculosis project has been launched to fight the disease in Port Moresby.
This followed the signing of an agreement between  officials of the Health Department and National Capital District health services.
Deputy Health secretary Dr Paison Dakulala said the NCD TB Strategic Plan 2016-2020 was a community-based treatment project focusing on reducing TB by working with partners in each of the three electorates.
Under the project, Family Health International (FHI360) will coordinate Moresby-South, World Vision would oversee Moresby North-East and ChildFund PNG with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) will manage Moresby North-West.
NCDCHS director Dr Nicko Wuatai said NCD had 45 per cent of the TB burden in the country.
“High population mobility, poor TB control and crowded settlements contribute to the fast spread of the disease,” he said.