Last year we didn t process any. This year, we ll process about 1,500. We ve laid off around two-thirds of our employees, said Daulbay Kudriniazov, director of the fish cannery in Moynaq. Unemployment, combined with the instability following Uzbekistan s declaration of independence in 1991, means living standards have plummeted. This is particularly relevant to the rise in the region s tuberculosis rates.
People don t eat as much fish as they used to.
They exist mainly on bread, rarely eating meat or vegetables. If we had an adequate diet, then maybe we would be able to cope, said Beldvig Rheimov, head of Moynaq s tuberculosis hospital. With Western help, Uzbek doctors are adopting a method of TB treatment pioneered by the World Health Organization. Known as DOTS Directly Observed Treatment Short Course this places the emphasis on patients finishing a course of therapy. This is a start but there is still a long way to go.