A new tuberculosis prevention and treatment centre opened in Minsk

A new tuberculosis prevention and treatment centre has opened in Minsk to help stem the spread of the disease in Belarus. Financed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the centre will offer training in the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of tuberculosis.

The United Nations Development Programme and the Belarus Ministry of Health also partnered on the project.

In Belarus, tuberculosis cases have risen following the country’s separation from the Soviet Union in 1990. There were 20 cases per 100,000 people in 1990, and 52.8 per 100,000 by 2006. Left untreated, tuberculosis —an airborne disease most commonly attacking the lungs—can be fatal in more than 50 percent of its cases.

The new centre will provide equipment and training for Belarusian medical personnel. As part of the project, international experts will be invited to serve as trainers and curricula will be developed in line with the requirements of the World Health Organization. “As Belarus was largely cut off from international expertise in the area of tuberculosis control, with the assistance of the Global Fund’s grant, we can now open the window of cooperation and knowledge sharing along with other countries,” UNDP Resident Representative, Antonius Broek, said. 

The centre is also the first stage of a national information and prevention programme, “White Camomile,” to take place in accord with World Tuberculosis Day on March 24. Belarus also received a $14 million grant for tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment programs from the Global Fund in partnership with the UNPD in May 2007.

Recipients of the five-year grant include Belarus’ Ministry of Health, Penal Department of the Ministry of the Interior, and the Belarusian Red Cross Society. 

Source: http://europeandcis.undp.org