The Union Health Minister Dr Than Aung speaking during World TB Elimination Day in Naypyitaw on March 24 said that Myanmar would implement a TB elimination programme over the next 5-years.
He said that the country would draft a National Strategic Plan covering the years 2016-2020 based on the World Health Organization’s End TB Strategy so that it could meet the World TB goal by 2035.
TB is contracted by 9.6 million people every year and 1.5 million die of the disease annually.
The Union Health minister said that the highest incidence of TB is in the middle-aged population and it affects human resources in the country.
According to the 2015 annual report of the ministry, three programmes were implemented to expand detection and treatment of drug-resistant HIV and TB cases in cooperation with partner organizations and they found and treated over 40,000 patients with these diseases.