TB medication accessible to all - report

The 2012 Global Tuberculosis report has named Rwanda, alongside Kenya, as a top performers in testing of HIV and provision of anti retroviral treatment for Tuberculosis (TB) patients infected with HIV/AIDS as well. Globally, treatment success rates have been maintained at high levels for several years, according to the recent report. In 2010, the success rate among all newly-diagnosed cases was 85 percent and 87 percent among patients with smear-positive pulmonary TB, the most infectious strain. Rwanda was mid this year named among the few countries to have attained universal access to antiretroviral therapy (ART’s) in the 2012 Millennium Development Goals report.Universal coverage of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) was registered at 94 percent from less than 30 percent in the last five years, according to Dr Sabin Nsanzimana, the Coordinator of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Care and Treatment Department in the Ministry of Health.In a recent interview, he said that 106,000 patients are on anti-retroviral treatment on which government spends an estimated Rwf 1 billion to procure HIV/Aids drugs annually.The cost of anti-retroviral therapy varies from one patient to another although experts estimate the average cost of therapy to be Rwf 12,000 per patient.Risk factors for TB include HIV/AIDS infection, alcoholism, crowded living conditions and diseases that weaken the immune system.Between 6,000 and 8,000 cases of TB are reported in the country annually.

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TB medication accessible to all - report