KARACHI, March 22: The World Health Organization's Manager TB Control Programme, Sindh, Dr Amanullah Ansari, has underlined the need for educating people of the province about TB and for increasing Case Detection Ratio (CDR).

Addressing a seminar on the theme, Every Breath Counts - Stop TB held on Monday at the Jinnah Post-graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in connection with the World TB Day, he said that 20,000 new cases had been recorded in Pakistan, 7,889 of them in Sindh.

He said that WHO had set two national targets - to increase CDR to 70 per cent by the year 2005; and to achieve a cure rate of at least 85 per cent in new cases.

He regretted that Pakistan stood at sixth position among the countries having burden of TB patients, and was still in 'red zone' as 67,988 cases had been reported during the year 2003.

He said that 206 diagnosis and 1,067 treatment centres had been established throughout Sindh and majority of cases was recorded in youngsters - in the age group of 14-16.

Treatment method DOTS is the best weapon against TB that is internationally recommended and is proven standardized. He said that DOTS had been described by the World Bank as most cost-effective of all health interventions.

According to Dr Ansari, DOTS method can secure four out of five patients. It was started in August 2000 in Sindh from Tharparkar district at a cost of Rs59 million, while PC-I for an additional amount of Rs90 million has been approved by the provincial government.

Dr Ansari pointed out that one-third population in the world was affected by TB. There are eight million new patients reported every year and two million of them die annually. Most of the fatalities are in women and this ratio is higher than maternal deaths.

Earlier, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Director Dr Abdul Shakoor Qazi, in his welcome address, said that TB was a challenge and the JPMC had joined the mainstream of DOTS programme in the country by establishing a DOTS clinic within the institution.

Dr Shahina Qayyum spoke of TB situation in Saarc countries and observed that TB was a major barrier in reducing poverty. She explained her views by recounting sufferings of TB patients.

Former Director of the Ojha Institute of Chest Diseases Dr Ghazala Ansari said that diagnosis of TB recommended globally was through sputum microscopy examination, but most of our physicians treated TB on radiological evidence only.

She emphasized that every patient having unexplained cough for more than three weeks should get the sputum examination done. President of the Pakistan Chest Society, Sindh, Dr Nadeem Rizvi said that key factors in TB treatment were compliance and correct prescription. Dr Muhammad Hussain, Dr Zafaryab Hussain, Dr Iqtidar and Dr Asmat also spoke at the seminar.

AKHS: Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan, has organized several programmes to mark the World TB Day on March 24 with an aim of creating awareness about prevention of tuberculosis in population.