Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem has stated the government has set a target to eradicate Tuberculosis (TB) in the Maldives by 2025.
He made the statement while speaking at the high-level meeting for renewed TB response in the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region. The delegation from the Ministry of Health for the virtual meeting was led by Health Minister Naseem.
Speaking at the meeting, Minister Naseem said the Maldives is confident that it can eradicate TB ahead of the target timeline. The government intends to mobilise resources for the intensified efforts and wishes to invite donors and partners to collaborate with the Maldives in the joint efforts to eradicate TB in the country before 2025, he said.
WHO stated health ministers of countries in the South-East Asia region have committed to renew and accelerate efforts to end tuberculosis, in view of the pandemic disrupting services and leading to increasing in TB cases in the already high-burden region.
At the day-long meeting, the health ministers signed a Ministerial Statement of Commitment, unanimously committing to actualise and intensify essential interventions. WHO stated TB is the world's top infectious killer despite being a preventable and curable disease.
The WHO South-East Asia Region is home to a quarter of the world's population and bears 43% of the global TB burden and one-third of the global burden of drug-resistant TB.