The 2013 TB Notification by Province shows over 24 thousand cases were recorded in Papua New Guinea.
A quarter of these, are children. Ongoing lack of adequate resources and local commitment from all the provinces has been identified as the main cause of this.
Analysis has indicated, that the since the implementation of TB DOTS in 1997, it has been ineffective in districts, due to the lack of adequate funding and staffing.
This has led to poor supervision and training, geographical settings, high cost of travel, and communication network.
However health experts in last week’s media launch pointed out, the National TB partner program has enabled detection, treatment and reporting, that will strengthen diagnostic capacity in all provinces.
Sputum not done or not available (NDNA) TB and extra pulmonary TB (EPTB) are problematic diagnosis, due to poor quality of diagnosis.
The 20 provinces recorded 24, 612 cases.
Nine provinces are on a thousand plus, the National Capital District, highest with 5300.
Morobe is second, 2809, Eastern Highlands 2031, followed by Western, East Sepik, Madang, Western Highlands, West New Britain and Oro.
Eleven provinces are below the thousand mark, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville 326, and Manus 99.
TB specialist Dr Joseph Bana-Koiri highlighted that every province and district is affected, and every citizen has a responsibility to contribute to the fight against TB.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=m9zvrFPSCnw%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
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