The highest office in the land, is leading the way and has provided its support in the campaign against Tuberculosis in Fiji.
Whilst officiating at the celebrations of World Tuberculosis Day, His Excellency the President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau challenged the country to look at the campaign against tuberculosis in a new way and support it.
Ratu Epeli noted that in the early years, medical experts struggled to look at ways and means of controlling tuberculosis.
Now the focus is on eliminating it.
“In the 1940s TB was controlled in Fiji at the Tamavua and CWM hospital and when the second world war took place it interrupted the sequence of medical development in Fiji,” Ratu Epeli said.
“Government initiatives and measures have been successful over the years and New Zealand has played a significant part in this.
“So far there has not been any records of the Multi-drug resistant TB and HIV and AIDs epidemic is not significant in Fiji.”
At the global level, the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic is set to decline but progress is being hampered by HIV/AIDS and the emergence of extensively drug-resistant TB, according to a new report by the World Health Organization.
Nevertheless, locally good news has been reported by the Director for Pacific Technical Support WHO South Pacific Office, Dr Dongil Ahn.
Dr Ahn says there has been a significant reduction of the TB burden in Fiji which has been observed over the past two decades.
“The notification rate of TB has declined from 31 cases per 100,000 people in 1990 to 20 per 100,000 at the present. The estimated mortality of TB has been reduced dramatically from 8/100,000 population in 1990 to 2/100,000 in 2009,” Dr Ahn said.
However, some areas of Fiji still have extremely high burdens of TB such as Rabi Island which will need more intensive approaches to tackle the challenges.
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