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WHO Warns of New TB-HIV Combined Threat to Asia

Posted on: Saturday, 24 September 2005, 09:00 CDT

WHO warns of new TB-HIV combined threat to Asia

MANILA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the co-infection between tuberculosis (TB) and HIV would be a major health challenge to Asia, according to sources reaching here from Noumea, New Caledonia, where the 56th session of the WHO Regional Committee in the western Pacific region came to an end on Friday.

Despite significant progress toward controlling TB in the western Pacific region, mortality due to TB could rise significantly if the deadly connection between TB and HIV is not addressed, the WHO warned.

"Gains in recent years may be undermined unless TB-HIV collaborative activities are put into place," Shigeru Omi, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, said in his report to the Regional Committee, WHO's governing body in the region. "TB- HIV collaborative activities have yet to be introduced in most countries in the region."

At its meeting, the Regional Committee is reviewing WHO's work in the Region and discussing future health directions it will take in collaboration with Member States.

WHO's goal is to reduce TB prevalence and mortality by one half by 2010 from 1999 levels, but the TB-HIV co-infection threatens to reverse the steady progress towards achieving this goal. HIV is the leading cause of death among people with HIV/AIDS in the Western Pacific Region.

TB-HIV coinfection is a serious problem in several areas of Cambodia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam, and a growing concern in some population groups in China and Malaysia, the WHO noted.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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