Support the fight against tuberculosis

Sudan is a large federal country with 18 states, in which poverty, stigma and long distances make it difficult to manage an effective tuberculosis programme. For the past 25 years, the country has been afflicted by more or less continuous civil war. This makes the challenges especially great.

Every year, over 60,000 people in Zambia get tuberculosis; close to 50 percent of these also have HIV. These are very high figures. The areas with the greatest prevalence of HIV also have the highest incidence of tuberculosis.

Since 1997, we have collaborated with Arkhangelsk County on a tuberculosis program with a goal of getting tuberculosis infection under control and establishing a collaboration between the health service and the civilian sector. Program evaluation in June 2018 showed very positive results and recommended expansion of the project to other regions in Northwest Russia.

Tanzania is a poor country which is severely affected by both tuberculosis and HIV. Therefore, it is important to take measures to diagnose, treat, and provide care to people affected by both diseases.

The public health service in Malawi is marked by the lack of qualified and trained personnel. In spite of great efforts in this area, from Norway as well, there is still a lack of nurses.

Romania is the EU country with the highest incidence of tuberculosis, with more than 15.000 new cases a year. The main challenge is inadequate follow-up of tuberculosis patients and poor treatment results for resistant tuberculosis. Every year, around 800 new cases of resistant tuberculosis occur, but only about 60 per cent of the cases are diagnosed.

Every year around 200 cases of tuberculosis are diagnosed in Norway. Approximately 90 per cent of those who become ill come from countries with a high incidence of tuberculosis. It is therefore important for us to fight the disease both domestically and in the rest of the world.