TB cases recorded at 136 in 2017 : Health Ministry
Tuberculosis first emerged in Maldives in 1960
Steering Committee comprised to annihilate the spread of Tuberculosis
The Ministry of Health has stated that Tuberculosis stricken patients had risen to 136 in 2017.
In an analysis conducted by the Health Ministry at the first meeting held by the steering committee to annihilate TB, it has been recorded that the amount of patients to have been stricken with the disease dropped to 136 in 2017, from 170 in 2016.
Records show within the past 8 years that the least recorded TB cases was in 2011 with 88 patients. Health Ministry also highlighted that the count keeps noticeably increasing year by year since then, adding that this does not mean more persons are being diagnosed with TB but that the count of previously diagnosed persons could be the reason behind the escalation.
Tuberculosis first emerged in Maldives in 1960.
A clinic specializing in TB cases was opened two years later in 1962 and the injection of immunizer Bacille Calmette Guerin, more commonly known as the BCG vaccine, was introduced in 1971.
In 1988, the number of citizens requiring the immunizer against Tb reached 98%.
A strategic plan for the annihilation of TB was introduced in 2001 in the Maldives, and by 2004, the Maldives had made it on the list of TB contolled countries in the international health community.
