Dr. Sharaf Ali Shah, Vice Chair of Stop TB Pakistan, revealed that in the preceding two years, Pakistan has documented 611,000 cases of tuberculosis (TB), with 48,000 HIV-negative and 2,100 HIV-positive individuals falling victim to the disease. Just over half of TB cases, however, were actually recorded.
Dr. Shah cited a variety of factors including a lack of awareness of TB symptoms, misunderstandings about anti-TB medicine availability at public healthcare institutions, a lack of knowledge about where one can obtain care, transportation costs, and loss of daily income.
Dr. Afshan Isani, the provincial TB adviser at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Sindh, highlighted that TB and HIV infections are mutually reinforcing and those living with HIV are more likely to get TB. She further stated that the number of new HIV infections in Pakistan is increasing year after year.
Meanwhile, Dr. Salim Kazmi, senior technical adviser at the CDC, noted that worldwide efforts to eradicate TB have been made and new advances, such as lowering the time of treatment for sensitive TB, are being adopted.
Dr. Karam Shah, Stop TB Pakistan’s senior consultant, emphasized the need of engaging policymakers at the district, provincial, and federal levels to declare TB a health priority, allocate adequate domestic resources, and build political commitment.
He went on to say that the available financing for tuberculosis in Pakistan in 2021 was $47 million, with just eight percent coming from domestic sources and the remaining 92 percent from overseas donors. Dr. Shah raised concerns about the sustainability of tuberculosis control programs owing to the country’s reliance on overseas financing.