Source: Xinhua
03-25-2009 16:36
Special Report: Tech MaxUNITED NATIONS, March 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that the rate of tuberculosis' (TB) decline is too slow and efforts to combat the disease are "falling short."
Ban made the remarks on the occasion of the World TB Day, despite a new UN report says that the percentage of the global population falling ill to TB which claims a life every second, is dropping annually.
"Millions of people are benefiting from treatment through coordinated national efforts, but millions more are still missing out," he said, warning that "unless we accelerate action, the numbers of those falling ill will continue to grow."
The total number of new cases in 2007 has stabilized, up to 9.27 million from 9.24 million in the previous year, said a report released on Tuesday by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
Rates reached their peak at 142 cases per 100,000 people in 2004, but have decreased to 137 per 100,000 people in 2007.
Ban stressed the need to intensify the fight against multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), as well as the TB/HIV co-epidemic.
The new WHO study reveals that one-quarter of all TB deaths are HIV-related, twice as many as previous recognized. In 2007, 1.37 million people living with HIV fell ill to TB.
