To the editor:
Make the Ebola crisis an opportunity.
Such was the invitation of World Health Organization Director General Dr. Margaret Chan. “Never again should the world be caught by surprise,” she said.
If Ebola was a surprise, tuberculosis (TB) is not. Although on a slow decline, TB still claims over a million lives per year.
The bad surprise is that multiple-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) has soared to half a million cases per year. It kills close to half of those affected – like Ebola just slower.
Surprisingly, Eastern Europe has many MDR-TB cases. For example, in Ukraine, 7,000 people died of TB in 2012 and 15 per cent of new TB cases are MDR-TB. In Donetsk, it is 40 per cent.
But, all hope is not lost.
On March 31, a conference in Riga, Latvia, will address TB and MDR-TB.
Recently, parliamentarians from several countries formed a caucus to promote the fight against TB and signed the Barcelona Declaration. Three Canadian MPs signed – did yours?
Since 2010, Canada has been the lead country in funding TB REACH, a program aiming to detect the estimated three million TB cases that go undiagnosed each year, both drug sensitive and drug resistant.
I call on International Development Minister Christian Paradis to continue funding TB REACH, and to urge other countries to join in.
Stopping TB won’t come as a surprise. We need a global commitment to detect, treat and cure all cases, relentlessly.
Pamela Walden-Landry
Montreal
