Kathmandu, June 21: The socio-economic development programmes need to be launched effectively along with medical treatment to eradicate the tuberculosis (TB) from Nepal, Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Mitsuaki Kojima said.

“If the development programmes to uplift the socio-economic condition of people in Nepal is undertaken simultaneously along with the programme of eradicating TB, the end result will be effective in controlling the dreaded disease that threatens many human lives” , said Ambassador Kojima, addressing the participants of a talk programme, ” Japan’s Experience in TB Control”, hosted by the Embassy of Japan, Tuesday.

Kojima said that Japan too had faced the same problem during the country’s industrialisation period in the early twentieth century but Japan launched the development programme in its rural area to get rid of the disease.

Tuberculosis, a serious global health problem, is a social problem as it undermines the ability of millions of people to work in their most economically productive years, the ambassador said.

Ambassador Kojima said that the Directly Observed Treatment (DOT) system is effective method to attack TB in the country which needs to be expanded along with the programmes to eradicate malnutrition from the people below the poverty line.

At the programme, the chief advisor of National Tuberculosis Centre, Dr. Katsunori Osuga, spoke about his experience he gathered during his three and half years of stay in Nepal.

Dr. Osuga who is returning Japan’s Tokyo based Tuberculosis Research Centre soon was deputed in Nepal under the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Dr Osuga while sharing his experience with the participants said that out of one hundred thousand infected with lung TB people, thirty-five die.

He said that 44,000 new cases are found in Nepal every year and 8,000 to 11,000 adults who are engaged in active social activities die of the disease annually. However only fifty out of 100,000 TB patients come to health centre for check-up.

He said that the rate of drug resistance is growing in 1.7 per cent TB bacillus that needs to be study closely.

Dr. Osuga said that the DOTs method of treatment has been in practice since 1996 and with the help of this method 92 per cent positive successful result has been achieved currently.

Dr Osuga, who has completed his tenure with the JICA’s TB project in Nepal stressed the need for DOTs to reach to the poor and different communities of Nepal to achieve the effectiveness of TB control programme in Nepal.

Dr. Osuga further said that the price of TB drugs in Nepal is relatively cheaper but the difficulty in procurement and distribution process of the essential drugs makes it somewhat expensive.

At the programme, Ken Hasegawa, Resident Representative of JICA, while delivering vote of thanks, said that as the present JICA’s TB project in Nepal, the next phase will probably be started in the month of December, this year. At the function, Economist Dr. Bam Dev Sigdel had commented on Dr. Osuga’s lecture.