Patients diagnosed with tuberculosis throughout the country must get the best treatment possible.
Treatment Action Group director for TB-HIV Project, Erica Lessem says all TB patients in Papua New Guinea must get the best treatment and not only in the most affected areas.
Lessem was part of the Regional Green Light Committee (GLC) that recently visited the country to evaluate the progress of TB response that has occurred since 2015.
Lessem said they’ve seen great progress in the hot spot areas where the best treatment is given to TB patients especially in Daru and Gulf Province.
She stressed that PNG needs to see that great response happening all over the country.
“When we are talking about TB we are really talking about people who are affected by the disease.
“I’ve met with a few patients and several survivors in PNG and this is one of the messages that they want, for every TB patient nationwide to get the best treatment as soon as possible.
“People effectively treated for TB become non-infectious very quickly so we need to protect the members of our communities by starting people on the best treatment as soon as possible,” Lessem said.
She added that by doing so, PNG can continue to grow and people can continue to live healthy productive lives as everybody deserves to and it’s their human right.