BHAKTAPUR:  World Tuberculosis day is being observed in various places in Nepal under the slogan, “ Yes, we will end Tuberculosis (TB) : National campaign and Contribution”

According to Dr Bhuwan Poudel, director of the National Tuberculosis Center, the day is being celebrated with a commitment from all to fulfill their responsibilities from their respective sectors to achieve the goal of ending the TB epidemic by 2035 and making the country TB-free by 2050.

He states that 42 percent of TB patients in the country are still outside treatment. He noted that most patients tend to hide the disease, instead of testing there is tendency for the disease to spread from them, and that there are problems with testing due to inability to use technology.

According to him, during the fiscal year 2024/25, there were roughly 0.039 million (39,151) new cases of drug-sensitive tuberculosis. Of them, 61% are men, 39% are women, and roughly 5.6% are children under the age of 15.

Stating that the government has operated tuberculosis treatment services at 6,241 health institutions to control the infectious disease, he said that specific microscopy services are being operated at 785 institutions and rapid testing services are being operated free of charge at 142 institutions.

He said that 31 centers and 98 sub-centers are operating for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis, the ‘Tuberculosis-Free Nepal Campaign’ has been expanded to 149 local levels, and nine AI-enabled digital X-ray machines are being operated to test tuberculosis.

He also said that there are 10.7 million active tuberculosis patients in the world, of which 1.23 million die of the disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).