26000 New TB cases diagnosed in Morocco every year

[Gert van der Hoek]

New 26k TB cases diagnosed in Morocco every year, Minister

Casablanca, May 29 - Some 26.000 tuberculosis cases are diagnosed in Morocco each year, revealed, here Tuesday, Minister of Health, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah.


Seventy percent of TB cases are registered in the most populous and urban areas, said the minister during the signing ceremony of a convention to support the fight against AIDS and tuberculosis, between the ministry and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

A national strategic plan has been launched to curb the prevalence of tuberculosis during the period 2006-2015, added Mr. Biadillah.

TB is among the leading causes of death in the world. Five millions cases are detected every year.

The fight against AIDS and tuberculosis is considered a top priority for Morocco, the minister noted, recalling the 2007-2011 national strategic plan to fight AIDS/STDs.

Ambitious, yet realistic, this plan is considered a landmark in the fight against this epidemic, the Moroccan minister said. It aims to give underprivileged populations access to prevention and care programs and set up a psychological support system, he went on to say.

AIDS prevalence in Morocco is estimated at 2,169 cases, 68% of which are within people aged 15 to 39.

Some 1,500 HIV-infected people receive tri-therapy treatment thanks to Morocco?s 2007-2011 national strategic plan to fight AIDS/STD.

http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box4/new_26k_tb_cases_dia/view

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: 26000 New TB cases diagnosed in Morocco every year

machinetranslated

Morocco: A new strategy for the anti-tuberculosis fight


(Casablanca) June 28, 2007

Published on the Web on June 28, 2007 Nouri Zyad

The new strategy of antituberculeuse fight adopted by the department of health was put, Monday, on the rails. Launched in the presence of the Minister for Health, Mohamed Sheik Biadillah and of the wali of Large Casablanca, Mohamed Kebbaj, this strategy initially operational in Casablanca, will be regarded as pilot zone.

To ensure more success this operation of scale, the department of Health intends to imply the various components of the civil company, the authorities, the local communities as well as the political decision makers.

Talks on the strategy of antituberculeuse fight 2006-2015 and that relating to the economic metropolis will be presented respectively by Dr. Naima Benchikh, person in charge for the Program on the level of the ministry and Dr. Omar El Mnezhi, regional manager of this department in Casablanca.

The Minister for Health, accompanied by the wali and the elected officials carried out thereafter the inauguration of the new centers of health of Sidi El Bernoussi and Sidi Moumen in Casablanca.

The efforts of Morocco for the eradication of tuberculosis are important and were worth in 2004 with the ministry for Health a particular distinction on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO): the gold medal. It does not remain about it less than tuberculosis constitutes a major problem of public health to the Kingdom.

According to an official statement of the department of health, for already a few years, approximately 26.000 new cases have been detected each year, that is to say an incidence of about 85 new cases for 100.000 inhabitants.

70% of tuberculous are old between 15 and 45 years, and 80% have an age lower than 45. The same source adds that the data of follow-up show that 70% of the cases are identified in the most urbanized zones and the most populated.

The extent of tuberculosis thus is very accentuated on the level of the large cities where all the factors of propagation of the disease are joined together. But which are the causes of this pathology? The department of Health identifies them with the factor of poverty in certain districts of the large cities.

These spaces and because of their overpopulation are arranged in an anarchistic way in particular in old the m?dinas and the peripherals of the large cities. Relevant bonds North Africa Morocco Health and Medicine They are consisted unhealthy habitats, mainly shantytowns, where the sanitary arrangements are non-existent (absence of cleansing, drinking water connection, etc).

The social phenomena relating to unemployment, illiteracy, the rural migration, the plague of Without fixed residence (SDF), and the frequency of drug-addiction are as many factors which accentuate the propagation of tuberculosis.

Thus, the task to reduce extent of tuberculosis at the national level is related to the reduction in the incidence of the disease on the level of the great urban centres.

http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200706280535.html