As part of World Day of fight against tuberculosis, the outgoing Minister of Health, Florence Duperval Guillaume presented the various activities carried out during the year 2015 to address this endemic disease in Haiti, recalling that since 1982 this struggle is one of the priorities of the MSPP.

Since the beginning of 2015 in Haiti, more than 16,234 cases of tuberculosis were detected. Dr. Florence Duperval said that tuberculosis, a disease endemic in Haiti, is one of the major causes of death especially among people living with HIV (20% of detected positive cases) because of the weakened immune system of the HIV carrier.

According to the Minister, the control strategy implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO) will be long, but the main objective is to eradicate the disease by 2030. "Uniting to Stop TB" in order to reduce transmission, morbidity and mortality of tuberculosis at 10 departments of the country is the goal.

According to experts, in general, the standard treatment for TB is not complicated. Treatment is based on the daily intake of a combination of 4 antibiotics for six months. However, some forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis require longer treatment and in all cases contagious patients should be isolated.

TB/ iciHaiti