Brazil installs interministerial committee for the elimination of tuberculosis

The federal government installs this Tuesday (6) the Interministerial Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis and Other Socially Determined Diseases. The group, according to the Ministry of Health, aims to eliminate, by 2030, diseases such as tuberculosis itself, Chagas disease and malaria, which mainly affect the most socially vulnerable populations. The ceremony will take place at 5 pm at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in Brasília. The Health portfolio will coordinate the actions of the collegiate, scheduled to operate until January 2030. The decree that provides for the new structure was published in April in the Official Gazette. The other eight ministries that will face the agenda are Science, Technology and Innovation; Development and Social Assistance, Family and Combating Hunger; Human and Citizenship Rights; Education; Racial equality; Integration and Regional Development; Justice and Public Security; and Indigenous Peoples. UN In May, the secretary of Health and Environment Surveillance, Ethel Maciel, participated in a public hearing on tuberculosis at the headquarters of the United Nations (UN), in New York, in the United States. The event is part of the preparation for the next UN High Level meeting on tuberculosis, scheduled for September this year. Brazil is a signatory to a set of recommendations established by the Political Declaration of the 1st UN High Level Meeting on tuberculosis, the goals of the Global Strategy to End Tuberculosis and the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals. The document foresees a 90% reduction in mortality rates and an 80% reduction in tuberculosis incidence rates by 2030, in order to eliminate the disease by 2050. The disease Tuberculosis is an infectious and transmissible disease that primarily affects the lungs, although it can affect other organs and systems. It is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Koch’s bacillus. The pulmonary form, in addition to being the most frequent, is also the most relevant for public health, especially the positive form at bacilloscopy, which is mainly responsible for maintaining the transmission chain of the disease. The extrapulmonary form, which affects other organs, occurs more frequently in people living with HIV, especially those who are immunologically compromised. Tuberculosis is an airborne disease and is installed from the inhalation of aerosols from speech, sneezing or coughing of people with active disease (pulmonary or laryngeal). It is estimated that, during a year, in a community, an individual who tests positive for tuberculosis can infect, on average, 10 to 15 people. In Brazil, according to the Ministry of Health, tuberculosis is a serious public health problem with deep social roots. The HIV epidemic and the presence of resistant bacilli make the scenario even more complex. Each year, about 70,000 new cases are reported, in addition to 4,500 deaths from the disease.

Agência Brasil