Little over 140 TB cases reported in 2024

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) of Maldives on Thursday has confirmed that a total of 148 tuberculosis cases were reported across the Maldives.

The agency further affirmed that the Maldives has begun its trajectory in becoming a tuberculosis-free country by 2030.

The theme of this year’s World Tuberculosis Day is “Yes We Can and TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver”.

In its statement commemorating this day, HPA said that statistics from World Health Organization (WHO) indicated a total of 1.2 million people lost their lives to the disease as of 2023.

In 2023 alone, more than 10.8 million people reported of contracting the disease, which included 6 million men, 3.6 million women, and 1.3 million children.

HPA also highlighted WHO’s “End TB” strategy which it had announced at the World Health Assembly in 2014, aimed at eradicating the disease completely.

The agency further said that it is currently trying to get 100 of Maldives’ islands officially recognized as to having rid of tuberculosis completely, which would add to HPA’s efforts of making the Maldives a tuberculosis-free country by 2030.

In 2018, HPA formulated a strategic plan to eradicate the disease from the Maldives. The agency said it had since formulated the technical guidelines required in executing the plan.