Myanmar in need of sustainable TB drug supply: minister

December 5, 2008 12:44 pm by pna

YANGON, Dec. 5 — A high-ranking Myanmar health official has stressed the need for sustainable supply of TB (tuberculosis) drug in the country, saying that the requirement is to retain the current achievement in "stop-TB strategy" under implementation, official press media reported Friday.
Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint made the remarks at a recent review meeting of Myanmar's Health Department under the ministry and the Global Drug Facility (GDF) held in Nay Pyi Taw.
According to the report, the GDF has provided TB drug to Myanmar since 2003 and the TB eradication tasks have been carried out in the country under its national health plan.
TB remains one of the three major communicable disease designated in Myanmar and the government has offered effective treatment to patients suffering from the disease under the anti-TB national project.
Highly-effective medicines in treating TB have been or are being provided free-of-charge for treating every TB-suspected patient who reports to the nearest hospitals or clinics, project officials said.
Myanmar has been making efforts in fighting three diseases of national concern — HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, treating the three diseases as priority with the main objectives of reducing the morbidity and mortality in a bid to become no longer a public problem and meet the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.
Of the three diseases, it was estimated that about 100,000 new TB patients developed annually and about half of them are infectious cases.
Myanmar achieved 95 percent case detection rate and 84 percent treatment success rate with regard to TB. With the introduction of Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) strategy of the WHO in Myanmar since 1997, over 85 percent of TB patients have recovered from the disease, the report disclosed. (PNA/Xinhua)
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