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8,000 Ukrainians Die of Tuberculosis Annually

30 March, 00:00

By Serhiy YEVSEYEV Every 25 minutes one person dies of tuberculosis in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Moldova. Compared to early 1990s, the death rate related to this disease has grown by 110%. Every year, 25,000-26,000 Ukrainians become infected with the disease, and up to 8,000 die. The areas showing worst rates are Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kherson, Rivne oblasts, and the city of Kyiv. This was reported at a last week's press conference on adopting a new long-term international humanitarian program called Ukrainian Red Cross against Tuberculosis and AIDS.

The tuberculosis and AIDS epidemics go hand in hand. Their interaction substantially increases the mortality rate. The death toll from the plague of this century (AIDS) is already 311 Ukrainians. As of January 1, 1999, there are 24,048 officially registered HIV-infected in Ukraine. And according to the blood monitoring data, their number has reached 41,500 persons. 774 Ukrainians are already AIDS patients. Tuberculosis seriously deteriorates the current state of the HIV-infected and decreases their chances of survival. Currently, 35% to 50% of the HIV-infected suffer from respiratory tuberculosis.

National Red Cross Societies in Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine, supported by the International Federation, have developed a joint program to combat tuberculosis and AIDS. In the first year alone, implementation of this program requires 9 million Swiss francs.

Newspaper output №:

№12, (1999)

Section

Day After Day