Tuberculosis still a threat to everyone

Sunday will be World TB Day.

We are so easily numbed by the many terrible events and ongoing disasters in the world today that it is easy to forget about the constant, everyday suffering of so many of our fellow citizens from tuberculosis. This curable and preventable disease continues to afflict billions throughout the world, mainly in poor tropical areas but also in neglected parts of the rich world, even in Canada’s North.

We must not allow this affront to everyone’s humanity to continue any longer. In our globalized world, TB anywhere is a threat to everyone’s health.

Worldwide, 10 million new cases (mostly little children) are diagnosed each year. This includes 500,000 multidrug-resistant cases. MDR TB is very difficult and expensive to treat.

In Indigenous Peoples in Northern Canada, the incidence of TB is 280 times higher than in the rest of our great country. Canada needs to do its part to correct this worldwide inequity, beginning with the Inuit in the Arctic.

The present federal government started addressing the complex problem in the North by forming a TB elimination task force in October 2017. Canada also contributed $804 million US (over three years) to the Global Fund for TB, AIDS and Malaria. The Global Fund’s budget is $12.2 billion US over three years.

However, even with this level of commitment, the world is still falling behind in the effort. The world and Canada need to increase their contribution to ensure eventual elimination of this disease of poverty. Colin Nelson, MD North Saanich