(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) The World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2013 published recently shows that treatment has saved over 22mn patients worldwide and that the world is on track to meet the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of reversing TB incidence.
Commenting on this, an official from the Ministry of Health (MoH) has said that based on latest estimates, Oman is categorised as a low TB burden country.
Oman's current annual incidence rate of all TB cases is 10.66 per 100,000 population and the incidence rate of sputum positive TB cases is 5.8 per 100,000.
The rest is pulmonary tuberculosis, according to MoH. ''Best estimates suggest that there were 440 (range 380-500) incident TB cases, and based on 2012 estimates, Oman is categorised as a low TB burden country,'' the official said.
There has been a slight decrease in the number of TB cases in Oman. ''The total TB cases among Omanis has decreased by 0.85 per cent, from 236 in 2011 to 234 in 2012. Sputum positive cases decreased by 0.94 per cent, from 106 cases in 2011 to 105 in 2012. However, there has been an increase in TB cases among non-Omanis.
''The percentage of total TB cases has increased 43.8 per cent from 98 in 2011 to 141 in 2012. Sputum positive cases in 2012 increased 35.1 per cent (100) compared to 74 in the previous year,'' the MoH official said.
According to the WHO report, the number of people with TB fell to 8.6mn in 2012, with global TB deaths also decreasing to 1.3mn. The report underlines the need for a quantum leap in TB care and control which can only be achieved if two major challenges are addressed.
''Around 3mn people (equal to one in three people falling ill with TB) are currently being ‘missed' by health systems and drug-resistant TB crisis ¨C the response to test and treat all those affected by multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is inadequate,'' the report said.
However, MoH said there have been major achievements in Oman with regards to TB control.
''All forms of TB remained under control and low incidence of drug-resistant TB and TB and HIV co-infection. TB surveillance was further strengthened by analysing data at village level and field visits to MoH and private institutions are regularly done,'' the official added.
Worldwide, insufficient resources for TB are at the heart of both challenges. TB programmes do not have the capacity to find and care for people who are 'hard-to-reach', often outside the formal or state health system.
''Quality TB care for millions worldwide has driven down TB deaths,'' said
Dr Mario Raviglione, WHO director of the Global TB Programme. ''But far too many people are still missing out on such care and are suffering as a result. They are not diagnosed, or not treated, or information on the quality of care they receive is unknown.''
A further challenge identified relates to the TB and HIV co-epidemic. While there has been significant progress in the last decade in scaling up anti-retroviral treatment for TB patients living with HIV, less than 60 per cent were receiving anti-retroviral drugs in 2012. This, the report says, mu
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