MSF Carry Awareness Campaign To Treat TB Patients

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Nov, 2021 ) :M�decins Sans Fronti�res (MSF) would start outreach activities to create awareness among people about drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The teams would liaise with rural health and basic health centres to help build capacity and improve proper sample collection and transportation of those samples to the selected TB diagnostic facilities, said a press release issued here on Sunday.

MSF-M�decins Sans Fronti�res is an international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare.

The international medical organization MSF without borders has opened a Programmatic Management of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (PMDT) site in collaboration with the Provincial Tuberculosis Control Programme, Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Punjab.

Tuberculosis is one of the world's deadly infectious diseases and the project aims to diagnose and treat patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis.

As per WHO, Pakistan ranked fifth among tuberculosis high-burden countries and fourth for drug-resistant tuberculosis worldwide.

According to the Provincial TB control programme, Punjab estimates 268,000 cases of tuberculosis annually, with 8,900 cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that spread through air droplets and usually affects the lungs. Patients with tuberculosis generally experience serious symptoms including severe coughing, chest pain, weakness, sudden loss of weight and fever. If diagnosed in the early stages, it is treatable and curable; however, if left untreated, it can be fatal.

Tuberculosis can become resistant to medications if patients don't follow their treatment properly and thus the disease evolves into drug-resistant tuberculosis.