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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Observation of World Tuberculosis Day

Belgrade, 24 March 2006

Serbian Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic said today that the aim of the project themed “Control of Tuberculosis in Serbia” is to reduce the number of tuberculosis patients from the current 36.8 to 25 new cases by 100,000 citizens a year by 2007.

Author: Tanjug

At a press conference on the occasion of the World Tuberculosis Day, Milosavljevic explained that this will be achieved through the strategy of directly observed therapy (DOTS) which will include at-risk populations. Also present at the conference were head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Belgrade Dorit Nitzan, head of the Serbian tuberculosis committee Gordana Radosavljevic-Asic, coordinator of the project “Control of Tuberculosis in Serbia” Natasa Lazarevic-Petrovic, a doctor from the Serbian Health Care Institute “Milan Jovanovic-Batut” Nada Milic and president of the Serbian Red Cross Dragan Radovanovic.

The directly observed therapy implies that every patient is treated in the right manner and given the appropriate dose of medicine every day to prevent the spreading of the disease through the air, said the minister.

According to Milosavljevic, the most important message on the occasion of the World Tuberculosis Day is that the disease can be cured. This is done with medicine which is free of charge, and that after the therapy, which can take from six to eight months, cured patients can go on with their normal way of living.

He added that a strategic and well-organised approach of health services is essential in fighting tuberculosis, which is what the WHO also recommends.

Head of the WHO in Belgrade Dorit Nitzan pointed out that control of tuberculosis in Serbia is much better than in a number of countries in the region. According to the 2003 data, Serbia had the rate of 35 new cases of tuberculosis on 100,000 citizens, whereas at the same time Romania had 149 and Croatia 43 new cases, she said.

Nitzan added that since 2002, the number of tuberculosis patients in European countries has been decreasing, which is not the case in the southeast European region. Here, the number of TB patients is either static or going up and particularly worrying facts are the increased instances of multiresistance, or resistance to drugs, in patients.

She specified that out of 20 countries in which the increase in TB multiresistance has been recorded, 14 are in Eastern Europe. Medical treatment in such cases is difficult and expensive, she concluded.