Press Releases
USAID Working to Bring TB Under Control in Pakistan
03/24/2008
The USAID Pakistan Mission Director, Anne Aarnes, outlined efforts aimed at “effectively bringing tuberculosis under control in Pakistan” and announced that the United States has extended $6.4 million to support Pakistan’s National TB Control Program through the World Health Organization (WHO) during the last five years.
“Even though a cure has existed for more than half a century, tuberculosis remains one of humankind's greatest scourges," she said on World Tuberculosis (TB) Day today. “As we commemorate World TB Day, we are reminded that TB anywhere is TB everywhere.”
An estimated 280,000 Pakistanis contract tuberculosis each year. According to the WHO, TB remains one of the leading causes of death due to infectious disease in
“We must work together to enhance quality TB services as well as forming public-private partnerships to detect and treat TB,” Anne Aarnes said.
USAID assistance helps to improve and sustain quality service provision of Directly Observed Therapy Short Course (DOTS) – the internationally approved approach for treating TB and reducing the development of drug-resistant strains of the disease.
USAID’s TB program is part of the $1.5 billion in aid that the U.S. Government is providing to