The World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is being observed amidst various programmes aimed at raising awareness to minimise the burden of the disease.

According to statistics, about 80,000 people suffer from Tuberculosis and 40,000 new cases are added in Nepal every year. Among them, about 7,000 people die of TB annually.

According to experts, TB is one of the most infectious diseases and it occurs mainly due to lack of awareness and education.

The government has been providing Directly Observed Treatment, Short course (DOTS) services through 3,000 health institutions around the country to check the risk. There are 364 microscope centres in the country.

Minister of State for Health and Population, Mani Lama said that the government has resolutely implemented the Tuberculosis Prevention Programme with the objective of creating a condition in which TB would not remain as the major public health problem in Nepal and in preventing the unnatural death caused by TB.

In his message on the occasion of the World TB Day today, Minister of State Lama stated that the DOTS programme, implemented as a nationally prioritised programme, has been successfully expanded to cover all the 75 Districts of the country.

Assistant Minister for Health and Population, Neekshya Shumsher Rana, in his message said that the DOTS, which is considered the most effective strategy for Tuberculosis control throughout the world, has become successful in Nepal ever since it was implemented in the country.