SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 5 LENGTH: 218 words HEADLINE: Millions beat TB in South Pacific
BODY:
MORE than two million people have been successfully treated for tuberculosis (TB)
in the Western Pacific region, including Papua New Guinea.
PNG World Health Organisation (WHO) representative Erwin Cooreman revealed this
yesterday to a crowd at Gerehu Clinic in Port Moresby.
He was speaking as part of the commemoration of World TB Day,
which this year has the theme: "I beat TB. You can too".
Mr Cooreman said TB was curable and people should make use of the equipment made
available to them. He said since WHO declared TB as a regional crisis in 1999 a lot
of people had been cured through the programs they have provided.
He emphasised the use of Direct Observe Treatment Short course (DOTS), in which patients
take their medicine with the supervision of a family member or a health worker.
"It is an effective treatment and I would like to see people cured through the
method," he said.
Mr Cooreman said with the decentralised TB centres there were facilities available
in every clinics in each province.
"There are microscopes in every centre where people can get their spit tested,"
he said.
"There is no need to go to Port Moresby general hospital to get treatment."
He said WHO had given staff laboratory training in some provinces and depended on them to
use what they had.