The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that Somalia only reports fifty percent of all the new TB infections.
In 2019, it noted that the country reported not more than 16,000 fresh infections. According to WHO, the Horn of Africa country had around 40,000 new infections.
WHO made this revelation during the World TB Day marked on Tuesday around the world.
“Recent population data indicates the country had 39,000 new #TBInfections. However, only 16,907 infections were reported,” said the global health organization in its statement.
In WHO’s estimates, all the cases that go undiagnosed and unreported are a health risk. It has asked for solutions to tackle the problem of underreporting.
Dr. Mamun Malik, WHO Country Director for Somalia, says the huge numbers of unreported TB infections need quick and effective solutions before the problem worsens.
Dr. Malik says several TB control activities are yet to be integrated into the country’s principal healthcare systems. He listed these activities as detection and diagnosing.
Other principal healthcare systems yet to make a mark in Somali’s healthcare systems include patient treatment, patient care, and contract tracing.
Worldwide, the organization says close to 1.5 million out of 10 million patients diagnosed with the condition died of TB in 2018.