TB remains a burden

The disease kills about two billion people every year, most of them in poor or developing countries.Speaking during a press conference yesterday, El Halabi said Botswana’s estimated rate of new episodes of TB, or incidence in 2011 was as high as 455 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

“This is undoubtedly too high in comparison to rates elsewhere, and is close to four times the global equivalent.”She told the gathering that a whopping 64 percent of these patients were co-infected with HIV. Such high co-infection rates, she emphasised, justify the urgent call for a comprehensive TB/HIV collaborative response.