WINDHOEK, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has achieved 86 percent treatment rate for tuberculosis (TB) and is doing reasonably well to remain within the internationally accepted levels, official from Ministry of Health and Social Services said on Wednesday.

Ministry of Health clinical mentor of TB and Leprosy Program, Nunurai Ruswa said Namibia is making significant progress in achieving the 90 percent treatment success rate enshrined by WHO and is also doing better than most countries in the Southern African Development Community.

Ruswa said Namibia is in a position where most of its TB cases have been treated.

"We have properly decentralized care for TB patience where we have made sure that most people that are suffering from TB are taking their treatment from home with support. We have also moved to make medication for TB and chronic illness available for longer periods," he said.

Ruswa added that Namibia is currently finding ways of dealing with both the challenge of COVID-19 and TB.

"We are just unfortunate that at the same time that we are dealing with COVID-19 we had not come up with a complete plan for TB. However I must emphasize that treatment of TB in Namibia is administered free of charge," he added.

According to WHO TB report released last year, largely thanks to improved detection and diagnosis, globally some 7 million people were diagnosed and treated for TB in 2018, up from 6.4 million in 2017, enabling the world to meet one of the milestones towards the United Nations political declaration targets on TB. Enditem

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