[Press-releases] SPC hosts workshops on TB and HIV/TB co-infection in the Pacific

[Christelle Lepers]

SPC Press Release

 

SPC hosts workshops on TB and HIV/TB co-infection in the Pacific

 

Noumea, 28.07.06 - Representatives of Health Ministries from 20 Pacific
Island countries and territories will gather today in Noumea, New
Caledonia, for the first of three successive meetings on tuberculosis
(TB) and HIV/TB co-infection.

 

The first meeting is a two-day workshop on estimating the TB burden in
the region. TB is a serious public health concern in several Pacific
Islands with some countries reporting among the highest rates of TB in
the world and an estimated 20,000 Pacific Islanders becoming ill every
year. 

 

>From 30 July to 3 August, the Third Pacific STOP TB Meeting will review
the implementation of TB treatment in the region and use the results to
guide progress towards achieving targets for 2010. The meeting will also
focus on emerging issues that are likely to impact on TB control.

 

Where there is TB, there is the added danger of TB/HIV co-infection. The
two diseases are mutually reinforcing: HIV weakens the immune system and
TB takes advantage of this weakness. TB can spread rapidly with deadly
impact among people living with HIV and with 12 000 cases of HIV already
reported in the Pacific, high rates of co-infection have the potential
to affect entire communities. To coordinate action to reduce this
threat, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) will host the
first TB/HIV Co-infection Meeting for PICTs from 3 to 4 August.

 

The meetings, which have been jointly organized by SPC and the World
Health Organization (WHO), will also be attended by representatives from
AusAID, NZAID, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
and TB laboratories in Australia and New Zealand.

 

_______________________________________

For more information, please contact: 

Nicole Gooch, SPC HIV & STI Communications Officer

Ph :( 687) 26 67 71, email: NicoleG at spc.int

 

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