Government creates committee to reduce cases of tuberculosis by 2030

The federal government set up, this Tuesday (6), the Interministerial Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis and other Socially Determined Diseases. Coordinated by the Ministry of Health, the committee aims to eliminate, as a public health problem, the following diseases: malaria, viral hepatitis, trachoma, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, geohelminthiasis (intestinal parasites), filariasis and Chagas disease, which affect most vulnerable part of the population. Representatives of eight more ministries will participate in the group. During the launch ceremony of the interministerial committee, at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization, in Brasília, the secretary of Surveillance in Health and Environment, Ethel Maciel, said that the committee will discuss the inclusion of new technologies in the Unified Health System (SUS ), coping with stigma, prevention, diagnosis, care, treatment, education and social assistance. “There are studies that say that these diseases should be on the list of conditionalities to receive assistance,” she said. According to the Ministry of Health, the committee will also work to eliminate the transmission of congenital Chagas disease, congenital syphilis, during pregnancy; hepatitis B and HIV. In addition, the Brazilian government is committed to reducing the incidence of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and leprosy by 2030, in line with targets established by the World Health Organization. The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, highlighted that these diseases are intrinsically linked to the lack of access to health policies. “Endemic diseases that persist in our country, because inequality persists in our country,” she said. Goals Brazil has the goal of reducing the incidence of tuberculosis to less than ten cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the number of deaths below 230 per year, by 2030. With regard to HIV/AIDS, it is estimated that, currently, one million people living with the virus in Brazil. Of these, 900,000 know the diagnosis. Based on this scenario, the goal is to have 95% of people living with HIV diagnosed, 95% on treatment and, of these, 95% with a controlled viral load. >> Listen to the article on the National Radio Agency

Agência Brasil