Somalia’s ministry of health has on Saturday publicized the number of patients living with Tuberculosis across the country.
The ministry has put on show a survey recorded from 96000 centres across the country during the commemoration of world Tuberculosis day held in Mogadishu.
60,476 people are living with disease in different regions of the country, according to the report.
The survey also shows that the number of the patients living with the disease has tremendously reduced to almost compared to the cases recorded between 2015 and 2017. A total number of 112,140 patients were documented during this period.
The researchers of the survey on tuberculosis carried out the exercise last year and released the findings during World TB Day celebration,
They [ doctors] stated that the cases were diagnosed by the use of chest X-rays as well as checking and testing of the patient’s sputum for the disease.
However, they indicate that there is a risk that it can turn into active tuberculosis due to challenges like poverty, malnutrition, poor housing coupled by poor sanitation.
The report pointed out that Conflict, displacement, lack of health care and walk to long distances are the factors that made the treatment of the disease difficult.
Somalia’s two decades of the civil war, severe drought, floods, famine, weak health system, and unregulated private centers treating tuberculosis and counterfeit drugs have also contributed the spread of the disease.
Tuberculosis is a preventable and curable bacterial infection that can be fatal if left untreated.
The disease affects more than 10 million people worldwide every year.
The World TB Day is commemorated 24th March every year from the day, in 1882, when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the cause of the disease.
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