Tuberculosis rife in East New Britain

By FRANKIY KAPIN
TUBERCULOSIS is the third biggest killer disease in East New Britain, it has been revealed.
West Pomio Mamusi LLG president Dominic Kanaelu also told the World Tuberculosis Day commemoration that loopholes in the rollout of the DOTS (directly observed treatment short course) programme to improve detection and treatment completion rates, defaulter follow-up and cure rates must be improved.
“Challenges of case and management and program management must be mitigated well,” he said when delivering the keynote message on behalf of Governor Ereman ToBaining Jnr.
Kanaelu called for collaboration among stakeholders and greater participation by the community to reach the 85% cure rate target by 2015. 
The event, which was commemorated in Kokopo and Rabaul, was attended by provincial government and health officials, schools, churches and the local people.
In Rabaul, acting district administrator Marakan Uvano urged the province to unite in the fight against TB which was a serious threat to humans.
He also reminded the people the importance of World TB Day as an opportunity to create awareness on the effects of TB reaching villages.
Uvano said studies showed that TB was associated with overcrowding and poverty.
In PNG it was spread through interaction by people.
He added that key areas to be targeted were advocacy for greater investment in TB, improving access to TB care, integration of TB and HIV/AIDS programmes and stopping the spread of drug resistant TB strand.
“As this year’s slogan reads, ‘Stop TB in my life’, the fight is everybody’s business, the young and old.
“The campaign must be sustainable for many decades until a long
lasting vaccine is discovered,” Uvano said.