DAMAULI, APRIL 25
Two-hundred-and-one tuberculosis patients have been recorded in Tanahun district.
Of the TB patients recorded till mid-March of the current fiscal year, 130 are non-infectious, according to district health office.
The infectious disease is curable with regular intake of medicines for six months while the recovery rate in the district is 82.1 per cent, said chief of the health office Shankar Babu Adhikari.
Treatment for the disease is available at 50 centres and nine laboratories in the district.
Many infected people in the district have been out of treatment due to lack of education, awareness, and geographical difficulties, he said. "The challenge is to identify infected people and treat them. In some cases, they are forced to hide their infection due to societal taboo attached to the infection."
The government aims to eliminate the infection by 2050.
Arrangements have been made to reach out to the houses of infected people for identification and treatment. Similarly, contact tracing has also been carried out twice every six months, he said.
At present, there are 80,000 TB patients in Nepal, according to available data. The age-group of patients is 15-49.
Globally, 5,000 to 6,500 people die from the infection every year.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 26, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
