Afghan Doctors Treat Afghans Suffering from Tuberculosis

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Kabul, Afghanistan – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) joined the Ministry of Public Health and the National Tuberculosis Program to recognize the recent global World Tuberculosis Day (TB) at the Ministry of Public Health in Kabul. The purpose of the event was to accelerate progress toward ending TB by improving the ability of Afghan doctors and healthcare workers to detect and treat Afghans suffering from the disease.

Afghanistan has a high prevalence of TB, an infectious disease that kills roughly 14,000 Afghans every year. Afghans living in crowded urban settings and in rural areas with limited access to health care are particularly vulnerable to tuberculosis.

Following World TB Day on March 24, Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz said he is proud of the continuous hard work of the National TB Program staff and grateful for the support of international and national partners in improving Afghanistan’s prevention and treatment of TB.

“Yet, still there are 14,000 deaths in Afghanistan annually so our partnership needs to remain united in its fight against this disease,” Feroz said.

USAID Mission Director Herbie Smith reiterated the American people’s commitment to supporting Afghanistan in its fight against TB. “I am proud USAID leads our government’s efforts in TB management around the world, that we have committed to reach every person with TB, to cure those in need of treatment, and to prevent new TB infections as part of our new Global TB Strategy,” Smith said.

USAID’s five-year Challenge TB project is working with doctors and healthcare workers in the public and private sectors in Afghanistan’s five largest cities – Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar, Herat, and Jalalabad – as well as in rural communities in 13 provinces – Baghlan, Badakhshan, Herat, Takhar, Jowzjan, Faryab, Bamyan, Khost, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Balkh, Ghazni, and Paktika – to improve tuberculosis treatment services for over 50 percent of Afghanistan’s population.