The incidence of tuberculosis in Kazakhstan over the past 10 years has decreased by 2.3 times
Kazakhstan demonstrates a significant rate of decline in the incidence of tuberculosis. This was announced during a press conference of the Regional Communications Service of Almaty city by the Director of the National Scientific Center for Phthisiopulmonology of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Malik Adenov. He also spoke about the start of the Month of the Fight Against Tuberculosis.
In general, the incidence rate of tuberculosis over the past 10 years has decreased by 2.3 times. If back in 2011, over 81 cases of infected people were detected per 100 thousand people, then already in 2021 - 35.9. In addition, due to preventive examinations, the incidence rate of children aged 0 to 17 years has decreased, and the mortality rate from tuberculosis has also been significantly reduced.
As Malik Adenov noted, there is a stable epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in Kazakhstan.
“In our country, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis are free of charge. Kazakhstan is one of the few countries that has introduced state-of-the-art methods of early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis at the expense of budgetary funds, in accordance with international standards. For the early detection of tuberculosis, accelerated methods of bacteriological and molecular genetic diagnosis of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis have been introduced, in accordance with international standards and recommended by WHO,” said the Director of the National Scientific Center for Phthisiopulmonology of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The speaker said, that today, all regional anti-tuberculosis institutions and district-level laboratories (a total of 128 XpertMTB/RIF devices) are provided with equipment for rapid diagnosis of the disease. Almost 99.9% of tuberculosis cases are detected using the latest express diagnostic method.
“The effectiveness of treating TB patients in the country is one of the highest in the world, in 2021 among newly diagnosed patients with sensitive TB it was 87.5%, and 82.5% for drug-resistant TB, which is in line with international standards,” he added. M. Adenov.
According to the speaker, such indicators were achieved due to the strengthening of basic measures to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. In addition to prevention and treatment, the National Research Center for Phthisiopulmonology makes sure that the sick are not discriminated against in society.
So, within the framework of the month, which starts on February 24 and ends on March 24 on World Tuberculosis Day, consultations have been planned with phthisiatricians, phthisiopediatricians, fluorographic examinations with the
population of the country, large-scale actions.
In conclusion, M. Adenov urged the population of the country to immediately seek medical help at the first sign of the disease. With timely detection and continuous treatment, tuberculosis is completely curable. People who have recovered from tuberculosis can study, work, give birth to healthy children and live a full life without posing a danger to others.