Cuban western province on the way to eliminate tuberculosis

MATANZAS, Cuba, Mar 24 (ACN) Matanzas is a province that with the actions carried out before Covid-19, those maintained during the pandemic and those resumed, can advance towards the elimination of Tuberculosis (TB), stressed today Lourdes Suarez Alvarez Suarez, head of the National Program for the Prevention, Control and Elimination of that disease in Cuba.

On the World TB Day, Public Health workers ratified during a national event in this city, the efforts to achieve a low incidence and to advance towards the elimination of this infection as one of the goals of the national medical system.

We are in Matanzas because it is one of the provinces that in the last five years shows lower rates than the country, of its 13 municipalities seven achieve lower figures than the province and of the latter more than half do not report cases, Suarez Alvarez argued.

Although it is important to fight against TB every day, today's date is relevant as a stop to analyze what has been achieved and to set new goals, said Pablo Feal Cañizares, first degree specialist in Epidemiology and Director of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Unit (Prosalud).

The official website of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health explains that tuberculosis is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs and, to a lesser extent, other organs of the system; it is caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and is transmitted from one person to another through aerosol droplets suspended in the air, expelled by people with active lung disease.

World Tuberculosis Day is commemorated every year on March 24 to raise public awareness of the devastating health, social and economic consequences of the disease and to redouble efforts to eliminate it.