News Outlets Examine Efforts To Prevent, Treat TB In Southeast Asian Nations

CNN: What happens when health care is scarce and TB rates are high
“…TB is now the leading cause of death by an infectious disease, globally, and Cambodia has among the highest rates in the world, with 380 people estimated to be infected per 100,000 in the population in 2015. … [S]ince the end of the civil war more than 15 years ago, great efforts have been made to get the country back on track, with marked progress in terms of TB control. … But having seen the decline, external donors have begun to extract themselves, said [Jamie Tonsing, South-East Asia regional director for the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease], believing the national government should now be able to handle the burden, leaving doctors in the region worried that progress made over the past few decades could soon be reversed…” (Senthilingam, 3/24).

The Lancet: New plan to end tuberculosis in South and Southeast Asia
“…11 countries in the South and Southeast Asia — India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, North Korea, and Timor-Leste — constitute WHO’s South-East Asia Region and account for almost half the global burden of tuberculosis while being home to 26 percent of the global population. … [H]ealth ministers of these countries committed at a high-level meeting in Delhi, India (March 15-16), to a set of national and regional actions to expedite the fight against tuberculosis. … The New Delhi meeting comes ahead of a WHO Global Ministerial Conference on the fight against tuberculosis in Moscow and the U.N. General Assembly meeting on tuberculosis later this year” (Sharma, 3/25).

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