Haiti - Health : The country has the highest rate of tuberculosis in the Americas
Despite the many efforts of the Haitian government to reduce tuberculosis, including free patient care in 256 specialized centers financed by the State Treasury. In 2016 there were 212 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (Source: UNDP), and in 2016 there were 194 out of 100,000, Haiti remains the country with the highest incidence in the Americas (nearly 17,000 cases detected in 2013 in patients aged between 15 and 34).
According to Marie Gréta Roy Clément, the new Minister of Public Health, the results obtained in this fight are fairly encouraging because the figures are constantly decreasing in Haiti and is convinced that the global commitment to eliminate TB by 2050 is achievable, while being aware of the challenge in Haiti to reduce the percentage of deaths that is too high, which is now 5%.
Willy Morose, the Director of the National Program for Tuberculosis Control (PNLT), is less optimistic despite the constant efforts and determination of the actors involved. He believes that the elimination of tuberculosis in Haiti will remain a difficult target to achieve due to the poor living conditions of the population and the difficult access to quality care.
Learn more about tuberculosis :
Tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease caused by a "Mycobacterium tuberculosis" bacterium that most often affects the respiratory tract. It is a disease that can be avoided and treated. Tuberculosis is transmitted from person to person by air. When a person with tuberculosis coughs, sneezes or spits, it throws tubercle bacilli into the air, it is enough to inhale some to be infected in turn.
