World TB Day 2002 - In the News

ITAR-TASS News Agency
Headline: World TB fight day marked under 'fight poverty' slogan
Date: March 24, 2002, Sunday

The World day of fighting tuberculosis is marked on Sunday, this year, under the "Fight poverty and overcome TB" slogan.

TB has been accompanying the human race for thousands of years. Since Robert Koch's discovery of TB bacillus in 1882, 200 million people died of the disease.

Experts of the Moscow medical academy's phtisiopulmonary research institute point out "it is still a long way to a full elimination of TB, it continues to threaten the civilization and not for medical reasons alone." Tuberculosis is a social phenomenon clearly lighting up the society's economic and ideological troubles.

Medics say that last year, Russia's TB incidence stabilized for the first time over many years. Chief phtisiologist of Russia's health ministry, Mikhail Perelman, said that TB incidence in Russia in general has reduced by 3.2 percent and among prisoners - by 13 percent. The country's current TB sickness rate is 87.8 per 100,000 of the population. The medic believes that "the positive dynamics has appeared thanks to the restoration of a professional medical examination system, preventive measures and considerable increase in budgetary funds channeled for fighting TB."

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