RIYADH: Coinciding with World Tuberculosis Day, the Kingdom yesterday launched a nationwide awareness campaign to prevent the disease and highlight its ill effects.
The health regions throughout the Kingdom organized various programs in schools, offices and in public places to create greater awareness on tuberculosis.
“The program was chalked out on the lines of the campaign spelled out by the World Health Organization to suit the needs of the local populace in the respective regions,” Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Khaled Mirghalani told Arab News yesterday. He added that the ministry has embarked on a concerted effort to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis worldwide.
Officials at the Armed Forces Hospital in Riyadh organized programs in prisons, clinics and administrative offices. Dr. Abdul Rahman bin Muammar, medical director of the hospital, said the authorities are keen on controlling the spread of diseases among children, adults and prisoners.
King Saud Chest Hospital held an exhibition yesterday on chest diseases that lead to tuberculosis among children and adults. The General Directorate for Health Affairs sponsored the show.
Citing a Health Ministry report, Dr. Naila Abu Al-Jeda’el, program adviser on tuberculosis at the Preventive Medicine Department in the ministry, said the Jeddah health region is home to the highest number of TB patients in the Kingdom (32.5 percent), followed by Riyadh (21.8 percent). The lowest number is Qurayat in the northern region (0.15 percent).
Al-Jeda’el said an annual survey revealed that there are around 15 TB patients among every 100,000 people in the Kingdom. She pointed out that TB is the most common infectious disease in the Kingdom and that 70.6 percent of TB patients suffer from severe lung infections. The male-female ratio of patients who have been treated for TB in the Kingdom is 60:40. Around 53 percent of patients are Saudis while the vast majority falls in the age group of 15 to 44 years.
The consultant said there has been a remarkable increase in the incidence of the disease from 2002 to 2008.
Mohammed Al-Hujjaj, a consultant participating in the National TB Awareness Campaign, said the disease affects not only human beings but also animals, especially cattle.
He stressed that early detection would minimize risks. “Besides lungs, the disease could damage intestines, lymph glands, kidneys, the reproductive system and other parts of the body,” he said.
He added that TB is particularly harmful to children under five and grownups between 15 and 25. He advised patients to complete their course of treatment. “Stopping the intake of medicines halfway would aggravate the problems,” he said, adding that people are unable to notice symptoms until the disease becomes advanced. Even then, the symptoms -- loss of weight, loss of energy, fever, poor appetite, cough and night sweats -- might easily be blamed on other diseases.
