TB on the increase in PNG, seminar told

By ZACHERY PER
PNG is ranked second in the Western Pacific with highest number of tuberculosis (TB) related infections.
Every year 16,000 new cases are detected from patients seeking treatment at health facilities.
World Vision’s Morobe provincial advocacy communication social mobilisation coordinator (PACSM) Stella Rumbam pointed this out at a TB advocacy seminar in Goroka yesterday.
Out of 37 countries in the Western Pacific region surveyed, Cambodia had the highest number of TB infections following closely by PNG with 16,000 infections annually, she said.
Rumbam supported earlier remarks that TB and HIV combined well to kill, saying TB had increasingly become a major killer of people with HIV.
Senior physician at the Goroka Base Hospital Dr Kilage Vanuga said globally 1.5 million people die from TB every year which equated to 4,500 deaths per day.
He said there were 9.2 million new cases, including 709,000 cases among HIV patients.
Vanuga said focus of attention was switched from TB to HIV but the two now become one  as the leading cause of death.
“HIV patients are more vulnerable to contract TB as their immune system has become weak. There is a need to properly diagnose patients before putting them on treatment,” he said.
The half-day seminar at the Goroka Steak House was staged as one of the lead-up events towards the launch of World TB Day on March 24, according to provincial disease controller Jackson Appo.
“HIV is a disease of choice that cannot be cured while TB is an airborne disease but it can be prevented and we need collaborative efforts from everyone to stop TB and HIV,” he said.
Appo said the province was implementing direct observing treatment strategy to treat TB patients which is helping patients.
EHP TB coordinator Nicholas Gohino also said the number of HIV positive people diagnosed with TB  has increased in the last 10 years.