I wish success to all, working to build TB free society in Pakistan. Since times immemorial TB has been the most merciless killer of the mankind. Despite modern developments in medical science it still keeps decimating the populace in the developed and developing countries. WHO has declared tuberculosis a global emergency. In 1995 there were about nine million new TB cases with three million deaths.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis kills more people than any single infectious agent.
In Pakistan, too, it keeps ravaging uncontrolled. Because, here we have not only to fight TB but also many other related problems, such as ignorance, illiteracy, poverty, lack of doctors, lack of medicines, lack of funds, lack of concerted and coordinated efforts in the public sector, lack of participation of the private sector and abundance of hurdles in almost every segment. TB control programme in this country started about 35 years ago. So, far the success of the programme has been partial. There is need to reengineer our efforts to tackle this emerging challenge.