Cambodian Prime Minister has lauded the country’s achievement in fighting against Tuberculosis (TB) and encouraged continued effort to address the disease.
Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen underlined the applause in his recent letter to cheer the World TB Day 2022, themed ‘Invest to End TB. Save Lives.’, which falls on Mar. 24.
Thanking the key players of the work, the Prime Minister expressed his pride of Cambodia’s progress to date – becoming a role model country in actively and effectively fighting against the disease from one of the nations with highest TB cases 20 years ago.
Cambodian heath authorities, he wrote, have broadly applied the Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) for TB treatment among the patients from the national to grassroots level free of charge.
According to Samdech Techo Prime Minister, Cambodia’s TB death rate remarkably dropped from 42 cases per 100,000 patients in 2000 to only 20 cases (down by 52 percent) in 2020, and the new cases decreased from 579 per 100,000 people to 274 during the same period.
Despite the improvement, he called on health authorities and concerned stakeholders as well as the public to join hands in further speeding up the elimination of TB in Cambodia.
The effort, he added, will not only allow Cambodia to achieve the related country’s and world’s sustainable development goal set, but also save Cambodian lives and foster economic growth.
Cambodia observed the World TB Day every year to promote more awareness of the public and support health service against the disease which are the pathway to succeed the TB battle.
