BRICS countries call for united action to advance global progress against tuberculosis

(en.nhfpc.gov.cn)

Updated: 2014-07-15

China

"China has achieved significant progress over the last 20 years by halving the prevalence of the most infectious form of TB and reducing mortality by 80 percent," says Li Bin, minister of the NHFPC. "Over the past years China has also taken decisive measures to confront the epidemic of multidrug-resistant TB."

Despite this dramatic success, there are still 900,000 new cases of TB per year in China.

"The Chinese government is committed to accelerating innovation and implementing new approaches and technology to improve diagnosis, treatment, and case management to further control TB and MDR-TB," Li Bin states. "TB and MDR-TB are prioritised as part of the country’s health work agenda by expanding the health insurance coverage to make sure that all patients and families, especially the poorest, have access to public health and clinical TB and MDR-TB services."

South Africa

"In South Africa’s mines, as many as one in every 15 miners gets sick with TB, which is the highest rate among any population in the world. The head of the TB snake is in South Africa, with its fangs in the country's mines and its tail reaching out to neighbouring countries," said Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa minister of health and chair of the Stop TB Partnership Board.

"Regional cooperation is critical to solving this issue. South Africa, together with development partners and mining companies, is bringing together ministers of health, labor, finance and mines from 15 countries in Southern Africa for the Symposium on Mining and TB on March 25. This symposium will drive action and cooperation across borders towards ending this epidemic."

The Stop TB Partnershipis leading the way to a world without tuberculosis (TB), a disease that is curable but still kills three people every minute. Together nearly 1,000 partners are a collective force that is transforming the fight against TB in more than 100 countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Programmeguides global action for a world free of TB by advancing universal access to TB prevention, care and control; framing the response to threats through norms, standards and strategy; technically supporting member states; monitoring the burden and response; and promoting innovation.