Maputo — Tuberculosis remains a serious public health problem in Mozambique, particularly because of combined HIV/tuberculosis infection and the rise of strains of the disease that are multi-drug resistant, according to the Health Ministry.
In a statement issued on Saturday, on the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, the Ministry said that, in 2011, 56 per cent of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis were also infected with HIV.
The number of cases of TB diagnosed is steadily growing - rising from 38,044 in 2077 to 47,301 last year.
The Ministry says that efforts have been redoubled to diagnose the disease in its early stages. "Access to diagnosis and free treatment has been increasing gradually, thanks to the expansion of the network of tuberculosis laboratories, the decentralization of care down to the peripheral level, so that there are successful interventions in the communities with the support of community health agents, activists, and practitioners of traditional medicine, who undertake various prevention and control activities", said the Ministry statement.
In his message marking the date, President Armando Guebuza reiterated the determination of his government to continue working so that all citizens, particularly children, can live "in an environment where nobody dies of tuberculosis".
Guebuza stressed the need of preventing patients from abandoning treatment. "By acting in this way, these patients are contributing to the appearance of more cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis, making treatment more difficult, longer and more expensive", he said.
The government, he added, "will continue to prioritise a reduction in cases of this disease, paying particular attention to vulnerable groups, namely children, prisoners and Mozambican miners".
"We shall continue to mobilize all the vital forces in society and our development partners for actions to prevent the disease, to ensure that those infected receive treatment, and to eliminate stigma and discrimination", Guebuza declared.
The motto for this year's commemorations of World Tuberculosis day "Let us do away with Tuberculosis in this generation". UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon issued a message saying that "For a long time, tuberculosis has not received the due attention".
The result of this neglect was unnecessary suffering, said Ban Ki Moon, who stressed that in 2010 alone almost nine million people fell ill with tuberculosis and 1.4 million people died of the disease, almost 95 per cent of them in developing countries.