“873 heath facilities are providing TB diagnostic and treatment services all over the country. Last year 52 770 susceptible TB cases were notified and enrolled for treatment. The National TB Control Programme maintained a high treatment success rate for several consecutive years, and we applaud their great work,” said Dewa Samad, Deputy Minister of Public Health.
“TB was Japan’s top cause of death in early 20th century. The number of patients has been dramatically decreased; however, TB still remains as the major infectious disease and serious threat to the Japanese people, especially for older people. That shows how difficult it is to eradicate TB from the world and explains that the global partnership is indispensable to tackle this challenge. I truly admire and thank all the people who are implementing this project, said Mr Takashi KAMADA Counsellor at the Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan.
“In spite of remarkable progress, there are many challenges to end TB as a health problem, for example, still 25% drug susceptible TB cases and 84% drug-resistant TB cases remained undiscovered and without treatment. It is estimated that 11 000 people died in 2018 because of tuberculosis, which is not acceptable. This grant will enable the procurement of life-saving drugs that will accelerate our efforts in the fight against tuberculosis in line with National and Global End TB Strategies to achieve targets of UN General Assembly High Level Meeting for TB,” said Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in Afghanistan.
