According to Dr. Sharaf Ali Shah, Vice Chair of Stop TB Pakistan, Pakistan has documented 611,000 cases of tuberculosis (TB) in the previous two years, with 48,000 HIV-negative and 2,100 HIV-positive individuals falling victim to the disease. However, only slightly more than half of TB cases were documented.
Dr. Shah cited a number of factors, including a lack of awareness of TB symptoms, misconceptions about anti-TB medicine availability at public healthcare institutions, a lack of knowledge about where to seek care, transportation costs, and a loss of daily income.
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According to Dr. Afshan Isani, the provincial TB adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Sindh, TB and HIV infections are mutually reinforcing, and people living with HIV are more likely to get TB. She went on to say that the number of new HIV infections in Pakistan is rising every year.
Dr. Karam Shah, senior consultant for Stop TB Pakistan, emphasised the importance of engaging policymakers at the district, provincial, and federal levels to declare TB a health priority, allocate adequate domestic resources, and build political commitment.
He went on to say that in 2021, the available funding for tuberculosis in Pakistan would be $47 million, with only 8% coming from domestic sources and the remaining 92 percent coming from international donors. Dr. Shah expressed concern about the long-term viability of tuberculosis control programmes due to the country’s reliance on foreign funding.
