T.B day Seminar at BMC Quetta

QUETTA: 2nd professional BDS students of Bolan Medical College, Quetta under the guidance of Dr. Ashfaq Khawaja Khail - Assistant Professor BMC, attended a seminar held on the occasion of World TB day (March 24, 2014). The event was organized by Mercy Corps and Provincial TB control Program. The theme for 2014 was “Reach the 3 Million”; focusing those 9 million people who become ill with TB each year and out of them 3 million are not adequately diagnosed, treated or cured of their disease.

A walk was organized which started from Sandman Provincial Hospital and ended at Officers Club. The participants were carrying placards and banners to raise awareness on the issue.

 

Speaking on the occasion, the experts highlighted that the number of individuals falling ill or dying from tuberculosis (TB) worldwide, has slowly been declining. However, the global burden of Tuberculosis is still substantial. In 2012, approximately 8.6 million new patients suffered from TB and 1.3 million people died. Each year, roughly 500,000 children develop TB and as many as 74,000 die from the disease. For HIV-infected individuals, co-infection with TB represents the leading cause of death. They also highlighted that the multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB is now recognized as a growing problem, threatening overall TB care efforts.