ERITREA COUNTRY OFFICE Press Release March 24, 2014

Eritrea Commemorates World TB Day

24 March 2014 | Asmara World TB Day was commemorated with enthusiasm in Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea under the theme - Reach the three million; Find, Treat, Cure TB . The commemoration was attended by participants from Ministry of Transport, BIDHO Association, UN Agencies, Ministry of Health, Community TB promoters and the general public. Dr Araya Berhane, Director of the Communicable Diseases Control Division officially opened the event. He pointed out the overall situation of TB in the country. The estimated TB prevalence in Eritrea is about 4000 per year though so much effort has been put to eliminate the disease. He said that the ministry will continue to intensify efforts to fight TB focusing on areas such as prisons and public places in collaboration with partners so that the cure rate will reach 90%. Based on the WHO standards, Eritrea is in a better condition compared to other countries. In his remarks, Dr Abdulmumini Usman, WHO representative to Eritrea read the address of the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Luis G. Sambo putting it into Eritrean context. He said that the low prevalence rate of HIV in the country is a plus for Eritrea as the country has reduced the prevalence by more than 60% compared to 1990 levels, thus reaching the MDG target. He continues reiterating that there is no room for complacency, and Eritrea should continue to strengthen efforts to fight HIV which is an important contributor to the TB epidemic. To reach the missing patients and move towards eliminating TB, we will need to scale up TB interventions such as, DOTS and TB/HIV collaborative activities among others, especially for the most vulnerable groups. The WHO representative to Eritrea, Dr Abdulmumini Usman, pledged the continuous WHO collaboration with the government in fighting TB and other diseases as well as improves health conditions. The various cultural shows, drama, general knowledge contest made the event lively, informative and colorful.

Dr Abdulmumini Usman, WHO Representative to Eritrea making remarks.

Dr Araya Berhane, Director of Communicable Diseases Control Division making speech.

Participants of the event.

Dr Abdulmumini Usman handing over prizes.

Cultural shows taking place.

World TB Day first marked in 1882 when, Dr Robert To reach the missing cases and move towards elimiKoch, a German Physician announced the discovery nating TB as a public health problem we will need to aggressively scale up TB programmes, especially for of the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. the most vulnerable groups and in hotspots, while inTB is curable, but our current efforts to find, treat and vesting in operational research and adoption of the cure everyone who gets ill with the disease are not new tools. sufficient. Globally, of the nine million people developing TB every year, about third of them do not get Although, Eritrea has made substantial progress on the TB services that they deserve. This may be the TB control and achieved Millennium Development case in Eritrea; of 4000 estimated TB cases occurring Goals TB, we need to further accelerate the fight every year, the TB programme is notifying around against TB in order to eliminate TB as a public health 3000 cases. problem in the next two decades. This World TB Day, we call for enhancing our effort to find, treat and cure the missing cases and accelerate progress towards zero TB deaths, infections, suffering and stigma.

Participants of the contest.

Participants of the contest.

For more information please feel free to contact us at: berhanes@who.int