The fight to stop tuberculosis once and for all continues.
A day before the recognised world TB day, Port Moresby is hosting a TB expo.
World TB day falls on March 24, annually, and is dedicated to raising awareness of this endemic.
The TB expo currently underway in POM is a collaboration of many STOP TB partners and is led by NCD Health and the National Department of Health with support from the World Health Organisation.
It's a half day event but the main speeches will be from 10am – 12noon.
The expo will feature art display by students.
There will also be entertainment by B-RAD, Watete drama group, art competitions added on to the expo booths galore.
The theme for World TB Day is: Leaders for Ending TB in PNG and this event is an awareness effort towards achieving that.
Tuberculosis remains the top infectious killer in Papua New Guinea today.
In NCD where the main event will be observed, and a quarter of PNG’s TB cases prevail, the theme is “Lets kick TB out of NCD”.
The public is encouraged to attend and find out what they as an individual can do or how they can take the lead to kick TB out of PNG and out of NCD.
The event today will see the Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill give the keynote address, as well as speeches from the Health Minister Sir Puka Temu, US Ambassador Catherine Ebert Gray, the UN Resident Coordinator Gianluca Rampolla, and the WHO Representative Dr Luo Dapeng to name a few.
World TB Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day and World AIDS Day.