Experts call for tuberculosis to be named public health emergency in Papua New Guinea
Health experts are calling for tuberculosis (TB) to be declared as a public health emergency in Papua New Guinea after a seven-month study into TB infection rates found that many people in rural areas are dying from the disease without ever being diagnosed.
Tuberculosis patient in Port Moresby's Daru hospital
The PNG Institute of Medical Research study says rural areas of PNG have some of the highest incidences of TB in the world.
Researcher Dr Suparat Phuanukoonnon says that TB the is poorly understood in the country, and many people die from TB without it ever being diagnosed.
"[TB] has been neglected and the health system is also not functioning very well so a lot of TB [patients are] basically just sitting there in a rural area, in the village and have never been diagnosed, never been treated, so when we actually conducted our study, you see that we probably have a world-class TB rate," she told Pacific Beat.
Dr Phauanukoonnon is calling on the government to treat TB as seriously as it does HIV/AIDS, and declare the situation a national emergency.
"You see how well HIV in Papua New Guinea has been controlled... basically we would like to see TB get that kind of political commitment, funding and support from outside," she said.
"I hope the PNG government declares TB as a national emergency, so [foreign] governments can actually come to help."
There are 15,000 new cases of tuberculosis recorded annually in PNG.
The World Health Organisation says nearly a quarter of those cases are fatal.
Dr Phauanukoonnon believes a key problem is lack of education and awareness, and says many people in rural areas attribute infection to sorcery.
"We found that many of them don't know about what the symptoms of TB are," she said.
"They actually perceive that TB is a serious problem, that it can kill.
"This perception causes stigma to a lot of TB patients because without understanding how to protect themselves, people just perceive everything that comes close to a TB patient to be the mode of transmission."
She says the study found people were most likely to get information from health centres, family and friends, and least likely to get information from NGOs and the media.
"We should really put [TB information] into the school curriculum," she said.
Source: Australia Network News
