World Tuberculosis Day 2011 - Malteser International: TB still deadliest among poorest

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Cologne. Tuberculosis continues to kill thousands of people today – almost 130 years after Robert Koch discovered the virus. On World Tuberculosis Day, Malteser International, the relief service of the Order of Malta for worldwide humanitarian aid, calls attention to the link in between the deadly disease and extreme poverty: “Tuberculosis is still a massive problem of the poor”, says Dr. Sibylle Gerstl, epidemiologist and Malteser International’s senior health advisor Africa. Although the disease is today easily treated with antibiotics, many people in developing countries have no access to these medicines. In South Sudan, where Malteser International conducts a tuberculosis control programme since 1998, the situation is particularly critical: in 2010, the number of people who contracted the disease was 11 percent higher than the previous year. Malteser International is working against this development in 11 health centres and with mobile health teams. The organisation also maintains a laboratory school, where 68 lab technicians have thus far been trained to perform TB tests. Last year, Malteser International tested almost four thousand patients for tuberculosis in Sudan. „84 percent of those infected have received treatment and been cured“, says Gerstl. „And the complete therapy costs only 50 Euros per person.“   Attention editors: Wiltrud Gutsmiedl, Malteser International’s senior desk officer South Sudan, is available for telephone interviews. Contact: +49 (0) 221 98 22-155.   Help support our work in the fight against tuberculosis – please donate! Donation Account 2020270 IBAN: DE74 3706 0193 0002 0202 70 BIC: GENODED1PAX  Pax Bank Cologne Reference: “Tuberculosis” Malteser International is the worldwide relief agency of the Sovereign Order of Malta for humanitarian aid. The organisation provides aid in about 200 projects in more than 20 countries without distinction of religion, race or political persuasion. Christian values and the humanitarian principles of impartiality and independence are the foundation of its work. For further information: www.malteser-international.org and www.orderofmalta.org