Malawi continues to record high number of TB cases, 1700 deaths in 2019
The National TB Control Program (NTCP) has disclosed that it recorded 17000 cases of tuberculosis (TB) with 1700 deaths representing 10 percent of the total cases in 2019.
The figures are a decrease from the 30,000 cases it registered in 2018.
TB is the leading killer of people living with HIV/AIDD and a major cause of deaths due to anti-microbial resistance.
NTCP Deputy Program Manager, Iasias Dimba told journalists during a two- day Bi-Annual meeting for reporting on tuberculosis in Mchinji district that 48 per cent of the cases registered were HIV related.
*We have discovered that HIV is the main driver of tuberculosis in the country followed by poverty , malnutrition and cancer among others,” he said.
According to a survey carried out in 2000, it was revealed that 77 per cent of all cases were co- infected with HIV.
He said by the end of last year (2019) the figures were drastically reduced to 48 per cent due to different interventions put in place by government through the program.
Some of the interventions were community awareness, detection and treatment among others.
Those with HIV are advised to be clinically checked every time they visit the hospitals, he said.
Dambe however said the program’s target is to eliminate tuberculosis by 2030, the internationally agreed cutoff line.
What a shame! all under the dynamic leadership of a Maliseche
10% deaths due to a disease which is preventable and cured is unacceptable. We are worried about Covid-19 a disease that has not killed any Malawian. But TB killed close to 2000 people in 2019 but the coountry is unshaken because of the people who die are from poor social background