Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
Monday 22 November 2010
HAITI: Combating TB in Port-au-Prince's tent cities
PORT-AU-PRINCE, 17 November 2010 (PlusNews) - Health workers in Haiti are concerned about the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in the tent cities that have housed more than one million people since the massive earthquake in January.
"With the quake this became an emergency," said Macarthur Charles, a doctor with Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO), one of the largest HIV- and TB-focused NGOs in Haiti.
"The main TB hospital, the sanatorium here in Port-au-Prince, collapsed and [the GHESKIO] hospital in Leogane [about 29km west of Port-au-Prince] for treating multi-drug resistant TB [MDR-TB] also collapsed."
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A pre-existing epidemic
While the earthquake has destroyed TB infrastructure, stretched limited health resources and worsened living conditions, the disease is not new to Haiti. According to a new WHO report on TB, the current prevalence in Haiti is 312 cases per 100,000 people, by far the highest in the western hemisphere.
Like much of the developing world, it is closely linked to HIV; Haiti's HIV rate is 2.2 percent. With 30 percent of the global HIV positive population likely to contract TB in their lifetime, the joint TB and HIV burden in Haiti is heavy.
Full article - Plusnews
HAITI: Combating TB in Port-au-Prince's tent cities
PORT-AU-PRINCE, 17 November 2010 (PlusNews) - Health workers in Haiti are concerned about the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in the tent cities that have housed more than one million people since the massive earthquake in January.
"With the quake this became an emergency," said Macarthur Charles, a doctor with Group for the Study of Kaposi's Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections (GHESKIO), one of the largest HIV- and TB-focused NGOs in Haiti.
"The main TB hospital, the sanatorium here in Port-au-Prince, collapsed and [the GHESKIO] hospital in Leogane [about 29km west of Port-au-Prince] for treating multi-drug resistant TB [MDR-TB] also collapsed."
..........................
A pre-existing epidemic
While the earthquake has destroyed TB infrastructure, stretched limited health resources and worsened living conditions, the disease is not new to Haiti. According to a new WHO report on TB, the current prevalence in Haiti is 312 cases per 100,000 people, by far the highest in the western hemisphere.
Like much of the developing world, it is closely linked to HIV; Haiti's HIV rate is 2.2 percent. With 30 percent of the global HIV positive population likely to contract TB in their lifetime, the joint TB and HIV burden in Haiti is heavy.
Full article - Plusnews