TB on the decline

Health officials in Guyana are reporting a slight drop in the number of tuberculosis, patients with HIV.



Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy says latest figures show that Tuberculosis patients with HIV dropped to 20 percent last year, compared with 28 percent in 2007.



Guyana recorded 622 new Tuberculosis cases last year.



Coordinator of the United Nations Programme on AIDS in Guyana, Dr Ruben del Prado says although the disease is on the decline in Guyana, the occurrence is still unacceptably high.



He says more work needs to be done to remove it as a public health threat.



Today is being observed as World Tuberculosis Day, an annual event intended to raise awareness about the disease.



Tuberculosis kills more than 1.5 million people every year.