Tuberculosis cases declining in Azerbaijan

Tuberculosis is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide from a single infectious agent, according to the World Health Organization.

It is one of the most common infectious diseases, causing significant damage to the economy due to high levels of temporary and permanent patient disability, and mortality.

Fortunately, Azerbaijan has had progress in the fight against disease. Statistic show that the number of tuberculosis infections in the country has declined compared to previous years. The number of total registered TB cases was 9,757 in 2014, while the figure was at 14,274 people in 2000.

The Azerbaijani government provides special attention to people who are suffering from tuberculosis and makes every effort to treat them.

The law “On Combating Tuberculosis” was adopted in Azerbaijan in 2000. Moreover, the Cabinet of Ministers has also approved measures to combat the disease for the 2011-2015 period.

Currently, there are three hospitals in the country focusing on treating patients with TB operating under the Health Ministry.

The treatment of tuberculosis patients is being carried out at the state’s expense, regardless of the stage of the disease.

Azerbaijan’s Scientific Research Institute of Lung Diseases fulfills all the requirements and recommendations of the WHO.

Last year, 4,384 people including 3,164 men and 1,220 women, were diagnosed the TB for the first time, down from 5,113 people in 2000.

The disease does not spare children either. The statistics shows that 147 of the patients – 95 boys and 52 girls – are children under 13 years-old.

In total, 198 people aged 65 or more (133 men and 65 women) are carriers of the disease.

Azerbaijan started to combat tuberculosis in 1995, while implementing a strategy in the country’s prisons, supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“We’ve made sustained efforts to actively detect TB in prisons for more than a decade now,” says Dr Rafail Mehdiyev, Head of the Main Medical Department of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Justice. “We set up a specialized TB hospital for detainees, with infection control measures and a new laboratory that uses all the diagnostic techniques recommended by WHO, including molecular-genetic testing.”

Tuberculosis is spread from person to person through the air. Common symptoms of active lung TB are cough with sputum and blood at times, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats.

Nine million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million died from the disease in 2013.

More than 95 percent of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and the disease is one of the top three causes of death for women aged between 15 to 44 years.

Statistics show that the number of people infected with tuberculosis is declining each year, though very slowly. Between 1990 and 2013 the death rate decreased by 45 percent.