'Southeast Asian nations should intensify fight against TB'

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday urged the Southeast Asian nations to scale up their efforts to find, treat and cure the undetected cases of tuberculosis in the region.

As per the WHO currently one million cases of tuberculosis go undetected and untreated every year in the region.

"The southeastern region is making progress in the fight against TB, but to win the battle we need to improve access to treatment and care for the disease. Social, economic and behavioral factors to reach each of the missing TB affected persons have to be addressed," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO's regional Director for the southeast Asian region.

She said that though the access to TB care has expanded substantially since the year 2000 with 88 percent treatment success rates, however the scale of the disease in the region is alarming.

"The region still accounts for 38 percent of the global TB cases. India alone accounts for 26 percent of the TB burden of the region. An estimated 4,50,000 people died of TB in the region in 2013, with most deaths reported from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand," she said.

Stating that concerted action was needed to reach the undetected cases, Khetrapal said that the cases were being missed mainly due to under-reporting from the public and private sectors, social stigma and lack of access to services.

"TB services - screening, testing and care - need to be expanded with a primary health care approach to ensure equitable access. Public-private collaborations should be enhanced for increased case notification. Community-based TB services that have demonstrated cost-effectiveness, higher utilization and better outcomes, should be further strengthened," she said.

"Between 2015 and 2035, global targets are to reduce TB deaths by 95 percent, cut new cases by 90 percent and to ensure that no family is burdened with catastrophic expenses due to TB," she said.