Tuberculosis

Dr Clarke made reference to the 30,000 new TB cases in the last 10 years, which have been reported every year.

Tuberculosis, drug resistant TB and TB and HIV co-infection are the leading causes of death from infectious diseases in the country.

Dr Clarke highlighted that TB case notification has increased since 2008.

In response, Business for Health, a not-for-profit organisation, is designed to mitigate the impact of the TB and HIV epidemics in the private sector.

World Health Organisation reports that globally, TB incidence is falling by 2 percent per year.

But still, this needs to be accelerated to a 4-5 percent annual decline to reach the 2020 milestones of the End TB strategy.

This epidemic mostly affects developing countries, including PNG, who has over the years been trying to align with the global strategy to end TB.

The more challenging in the country is the multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). In fact, WHO confirms MDR-TB remains a public health crisis and health threat globally.

It is the second phase of a project which was launched in November with an outreach awareness and registration programme for about 60 percent of Ebeye's population.

The ongoing screening and treatment phase is expected to take up to nine-weeks to complete.

The Health Minister Kalani Kaneko said the Marshalls has one of the highest rates of TB in the world and that it was time to do something about it.

The aim was to screen nearly 7000 Marshall Islanders aged 15 years and over and to treat everyone who tested positive for tuberculosis.