Strategic TB control plan to get under way soon

by Carol Aloysius

A five-year strategic plan for TB control (2012-2016) is now ready and will be implemented shortly, according to the National Program for TB Control and Chest Diseases. (NPTBCCD). Along with this, the NPTBCCD has also drafted guidelines for the management of extra pulmonary TB which will be issued soon, a spokesman for the NPTBCCD said.

He said plans to upgrade the national TB reference lab to bio-safety level 3 was also under way as part of the new initiatives to control the spread of TB in the country. Deputy Director of the NPTBCCD, Dr Sugath Samaraweera told the Sunday Observer that Sri Lanka had achieved the WHO goal of a treatment success rate of 85 percent and defaulter rate of less than five percent.

Although TB has declined considerably, on an average 2,000 new patients were detected from Colombo district alone due to overcrowding and poor housing conditions. This figure accounts for 20 percent of the patients detected in Sri Lanka annually.

Some of the causes of the spread of TB in urban areas were poverty and unhealthy living styles such as alcohol and substance abuse which had an impact on the success of the treatment. Prisoners, beggars and temporary settlers in urban settings were at a higher risk of getting TB, he said. They also have a high tendency in defaulting treatment.

The Health Ministry is conducting several programs to identify TB patients and carrying out screening and awareness programs among inmates in refugee camps, elderly homes, factory and estate workers, as well as garment workers and workers in food establishments.