National TB Control Program (NTP) organized a 2-day Inter-Provincial Quarterly Meeting for Quarter-1 and Grant Signing Ceremony of Global Fund Round-6 (Phase-2) between NTP and its partner NGOs recently at a local hotel in Islamabad.
Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Federal Minister for Health speaking as the chief guest on the occasion said that the government is committed to support the efforts directed towards the control of TB and appreciates the efforts of NTP and its provincial partners. He stressed the need for commitment by top leaders and from government level also.
Artashes Mirzoyan, Global Fund Portfolio Manager, said that Global Fund appreciates the efforts of NTP and its provincial partners in achieving 100 percent DOTs coverage. He further said that Global Fund is public private partnership with a burst of more than $10 million. 63% of it are being utilized for the eliminating of TB. Global Fund through its funding support provided the treatment to more than 7 m peoples.
Global Fund has increased its portfolio in Pakistan and it commitment for Pakistan portfolio for the next 5 years have been exceeded to 200 million. TB control activities are making progress in Pakistan and the Global Fund hopes to see better results till 2011.
Fara Ahmad Shadoo, WHO Representative in his remarks said that Pakistan has shown tremendous results in the last 10 years. This achievement is appreciable and it is due to leadership, commitment of different partners which has led to this success. This achievement need to be sustained and expanded further.
The expansion of TB surveillance system and implementation for TB prevalence survey is going to be implemented soon. There is need to engage more private sectors, institutions and tertiary care hospital in case reporting and provision of DOTs. Effective tangible improvement in drug management system is also required. Pakistan through its wise leadership and commitment of partners, donors and political commitment will soon achieve MGDs by 2015.
Dr. Noor Ahmad Baloch National Program Manager, NTP in his welcome address said that NTP regularly holds Intra-District Meetings at district level and Inter-Provincial Quarterly Meeting in order to identify the progress, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges faced by the program and to discuss the future plans of the program.
In these meeting, data from all the four provinces are complied and shared to provincial managers to develop the final data. Earlier, Provincial Managers presented their provincial and regional presentations to review the performance, issues and future plan.
Dr. Amanullah Ansari from Provincial TB Control Program Sindh said that in Sindh, there is 15% increase in smart sputum positive new cases and 11% increase in all TB case notifications in Sindh during Quarter-1, 2010 compared to Quarter-1, of year 2009.
The total smear-positive cases enrolled on treatment during Quarter-1, 2010 is 7303, total contacts screened is 3025 and TB patients detected is 135 i.e. 4%. The challenges includes in the program includes, Shortage of RR instruments in districts, GLC drugs requirement and upgradation of PRL to BSL-3 still awaited.
Dr. Darakhshan Badar, Provincial TB Control Program, Punjab revealed that the performance of Quarter-1, 2010 CDR is 100%, positive is 80%, conversion rate is 94% success rate is 92%, default rate is 4% and all type case notification rate is high.
Statistics shows that 23 district achieve 5 target, 9 district achieve 4 target, 3 district achieve 3 target and Lahore achive 2 target. In Lahore, CDR all type is 210%, CDR positive is 140%, sputum conversion is 84% and default rate is 15% which is drop down from 17%. The challenges in the program include lack of funding in PC1, requirement of drugs and the support of PPM district.
Dr. Lubna Siddiqui, Provincial TB Control Program, Baluchistan said that according to an estimate, the incidence the annual burden of all case is 16,000 per year and smear positive is about 7,000 per year.
In Baluchistan, the default rate has been decreased and there is slight increased in the treatment success rate and cure rate. Detecting atleast 70% of infectious cases and curing 85% of then to reduce the prevalence of TB upto 50% by 2015 is the only to get TB free Pakistan. The Challenges in the program challenges includes weak monitoring and supervision, weak coordination between program & partners and other engagements of DTCs.
Dr. Adil from Provincial TB Control Program, AJK briefed the participants about overall situation of TB in AJK. He said that AJK literacy rate is 64%. There are 67 centre and 15 are treatment centre. In last Quarter 2010, Provincial TB Control Program, AJK is providing 100 % population coverage. The CDR for all case is 65% and smear positive cases are 43%. The suspected positivity rate is 8% and contact confirmatory rate is 1.30%.
The outcome indicate in Quarter-4, 2009 and Quarter-1, 2010 shows SCR 97%, cure rate is 94%, treatment success of sputum positive case is 97%, default rate is 1% and death rate is 37%. The challenges in the program include the non-availability of funds for M&E, PPM Implementation, Poor involvement of LHWs and Reference laboratory establishment.
Dr. Abdul Khaliq, Provincial TB Control Program, FATA informed that in FATA, sputum positive case from 2002 to 2009 is 27%, case detection rate of smear positive cases in Quarter-1, 2009 is 90% and 91% in 2010. The default rate in 2009 is 4% and in 2010 6%. The challenges in the program include the lack of logistic support for M&S at agency level and Sub optimal infra structure of peripheral labs.
In the end, Dr. Shahid Hanif, Deputy Manager, NTP offered vote of thanks.