There were 9 882 patients diagnosed with TB in 2014.
Health minister Bernard Haufiku made the revelation in a speech delivered on his behalf by director of special programmes Anne-Marie Nitschke, at the National TB Day commemoration held under the theme 'Reach All Namibians with TB' at Keetmanshoop on Friday.
Saying the trend in the TB prevalence rate in the country continued to drop since 2004, Haufiku said the number of patients diagnosed with TB in 2014 shows a 7% decline from the 10 610 patients diagnosed in 2013.
"But this is not a call for complacency. We still need to do more," Haufiku added.
In 2013, 87% of the new patients who were put on treatment were successfully treated, compared to 85% the previous year, said Haufiku.
According to Haufiku, Namibia has made significant progress to detect patients with multidrug-resistant TB which resulted in diagnosing a total of 326 patients with forms of MDR-TB in 2014.
"This represents a significant increase from the 263 who commenced treatment in 2013," said Haufiku.
Furthermore, Haufiku revealed that six cases of XDR-TB (Extensive Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis) were detected in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
Haufiku said the TB patients who tested positive for HIV have risen from 44% in 2004 to 92% in 2014.
He pledged that the ministry will continue to expand its efforts to ensure that HIV positive TB patients are started on anti-retroviral therapy as soon as possible.
"This way we can improve the outcome of treatment in our patients," Haufiku added.
Haufiku concluded by reminding Namibians that it is each and everyone's collective responsibility to reach every TB patient in Namibia.
World Health Organisation representative Monir Islam applauded Namibia for its significant progress in reducing the burden of TB.
"This has been demonstrated by a consistent decline in the number of TB cases and maintaining the treatment success rate around 85% over the past few years," Islam added.
Source: allAfrica.com