ID :
145919
Wed, 10/13/2010 - 13:13
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Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/145919
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17,000 TB CASES REPORTED IN MALAYSIA LAST YEAR
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 13 (Bernama) -- The number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in Malaysia has increased annually, with 17,000 cases reported last year, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Tuesday.
He said that of the total, 1,005 patients died and more than 85 per cent completed their treatment.
"We have reduced our cases from more than 100,000 cases (a year) earlier...and now, we are left with about 17,000 cases a year, but this is considered as still high. We can actually reduce it further.
"There is some increase...slight increase. At one time, we managed to reduce (the number to) very low but they've come up again," he told a press conference after chairing the second day of the 61st session of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee for the Western Pacific Region meeting at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here Tuesday.
Liow said one of the contributing factors to the increasing number of TB cases was the co-infection between TB and HIV.
He said multidrug-resistant TB was also one of the challenges for the government to reduce TB cases in the country, adding that the important thing in curing TB was to tackle the TB-HIV co-infection and effective treatment.
Liow said the crucial part in reducing the cases was tracking and
following-up with the patient.
On the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) achievement for the country, the health minister said it had surpassed the target in all areas, such as MDG on HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality rates, child mortality rates, except TB cases.
He said MDG on TB did not surpass the target because the number of cases was going up and down every year.
Meanwhile, Health Director-General Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the
detection of the cases, awareness and ensuring the patient complied with the treatment were crucial.
He said counselling was the most important part before the patient started the treatment to make sure that the patient got a clear picture of the treatment.
According to the latest WHO estimates, approximately 1.9 million incident TB cases and 260,000 TB deaths are estimated each year in the Western Pacific Region.
He said that of the total, 1,005 patients died and more than 85 per cent completed their treatment.
"We have reduced our cases from more than 100,000 cases (a year) earlier...and now, we are left with about 17,000 cases a year, but this is considered as still high. We can actually reduce it further.
"There is some increase...slight increase. At one time, we managed to reduce (the number to) very low but they've come up again," he told a press conference after chairing the second day of the 61st session of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee for the Western Pacific Region meeting at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here Tuesday.
Liow said one of the contributing factors to the increasing number of TB cases was the co-infection between TB and HIV.
He said multidrug-resistant TB was also one of the challenges for the government to reduce TB cases in the country, adding that the important thing in curing TB was to tackle the TB-HIV co-infection and effective treatment.
Liow said the crucial part in reducing the cases was tracking and
following-up with the patient.
On the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) achievement for the country, the health minister said it had surpassed the target in all areas, such as MDG on HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality rates, child mortality rates, except TB cases.
He said MDG on TB did not surpass the target because the number of cases was going up and down every year.
Meanwhile, Health Director-General Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the
detection of the cases, awareness and ensuring the patient complied with the treatment were crucial.
He said counselling was the most important part before the patient started the treatment to make sure that the patient got a clear picture of the treatment.
According to the latest WHO estimates, approximately 1.9 million incident TB cases and 260,000 TB deaths are estimated each year in the Western Pacific Region.
