DILI, 27 march 2024 (TATOLI) – The Ministry of Health (MoH) reported more than 5,000 new cases of tuberculosis infections in the first three months of the year (january to march).
The head of the Ministry of Health’s tuberculosis unit, Constantino Lopes, said that most of the cases were registered in Dili, as many patients were referred for treatment in Dili.
According to the World Health Organization’s 2022 Global TB report, Timor-Leste has shown a reduction in the incidence of tuberculosis (TB). The TB incidence in the country had been stagnant at 498 per 100,000 populations for the past many years, but in 2021, the incidence showed a 2.4% decline to 486 per 100,000.
The report also highlighted two other positive trends in Timor-Leste – the country recorded a 91% success rate in TB treatment and the testing coverage with the use of rapid diagnostics at the time of diagnosis had improved to 32%. In comparison, the treatment success rate in 2019 was 88% and the testing coverage stood at 11%.
To tackle TB, the country has undertaken several interventions including early detection, early treatment, and the introduction of better diagnostics facilities for the people.
Timor-Leste has transitioned to better TB diagnostics such as the GeneXpert, which is a molecular TB test. The country also improved TB prevention through the wider rollout of prophylaxis treatment for children and adult contacts. In 2021, there was a nearly 15% increase in the number of people put on prophylaxis TB treatment compared to 2020. With technical support from the WHO country office, the Ministry of Health has also focused on spreading awareness about the disease within the community so that every case is detected and is on treatment.
TB is caused by the mycobacterium tuberculosis, and it most often affects the lungs. TB spreads through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze, or spit. A person needs to inhale only a few germs to become infected. A number of risk factors and underlying medical conditions such as HIV, diabetes, malnutrition, tobacco, and substance use drive the TB cases and treatment outcomes.
According to the WHO Global Tuberculosis Report 2023, there were an estimated 10.6 million new cases of TB infections worldwide in 2022, up from 10.3 million in 2021. The regions with the highest share of new TB infections last year were in South-East Asia (46 percent), Africa (23 percent), and the Western Pacific (18 percent), with lower numbers in the Eastern Mediterranean (8.1 percent), the Americas (3.1 percent) and Europe (2.2 percent). Where 5.8 million men (55 percent) had TB in 2022, 3.6 million women (33 percent) had the disease and 1.3 million children (12 percent).
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
