Tuberculosis control in Pakistan

Abstract

Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in the third world countries like Pakistan. Drugs that can cure most cases of TB have been available since the late 1940s. However with around 2 million deaths from TB annually, the disease ranks 2nd only to HIV as a cause of death from infectious diseases. The number of new cases of TB that occur every year also continues to grow reaching 9.3 million in 2007. Twenty two high burden countries account for 80% of total global TB which includes Pakistan. Although sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence rate, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan together account for half of theglobal TB burden.