Tag Archives: MDRTB

Is TB Australia’s problem? Maybe not long from now.

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I wrote this three years ago.  Have things gotten better? By SUSAN MERRELL TODAY, SUNDAY 24 MARCH [2013], is World Tuberculosis Day. In Australia, tuberculosis (TB) has largely been eradicated and is at a negligible incidence of six cases for every 100,000 of population. So, apart from humanitarian considerations for countries less fortunate, why should TB concern Australia? It’s said that one can walk from Australia to Papua New Guinea at low tide, and PNG has a staggeringly high incidence of 346 TB cases per 100,000, with numbers rising. (There has been a 42% increase in the last decade.) Furthermore, Continue reading Is TB Australia’s problem? Maybe not long from now.→

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Tuberculosis in PNG: Of myths and misconceptions

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Late in 2012, I was an invited fellow of the National Press Foundation of Washington to the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung diseases’ (the Union) annual conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Union, is one of the world’s peak bodies in the fight against Tuberculosis (TB) along with the ‘Stop TB Partnership’ (a part of the World Health Organization -WHO).  It is these two organizations that largely inform the Government of PNG’s health initiatives, policies and strategies surrounding TB.  It was the Union that developed the Direct Observation Treatment – short course (DOTS) that is now administered by World Continue reading Tuberculosis in PNG: Of myths and misconceptions→

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