‘Pakistan fifth among 30 TB high-risk countries’

ISLAMABAD:

It is a tragic fact that Pakistan is one of the few countries where diseases like polio and Tuberculosis (TB) are still prevalent. With regard to TB, Pakistan is ranked at number 5 among 30 high-risk countries.

Pulmonologist Dr Syed Ghulam Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday said that early identification, treatment and self-examination are the key factors to save precious lives from TB.

TB is the top infectious killer worldwide, claiming over 5,000 lives a day. 'World Tuberculosis Day' observed yesterday (March 24) gave us an opportunity to raise public awareness about the health, social and economic impact of the TB epidemic and to intensify efforts to end it, said Dr Naqvi. He explained that Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs and the bacteria usually spreads to people when an infected person sneezes or coughs.

It is pertinent to mention here that World TB Day addresses a different theme each year and this year theme of World TB Day 2021 was "The Clock is Ticking" which conveys the sense that the Covid 19 pandemic has delayed the progress of curing TB and the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB made by global leaders.

Every year World TB Day is observed by organising various campaigns and health awareness programmes with an aim to prevent and treat the deadly infection.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2021.