WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3644/97 by Clive NEEDLE to the Commission. The rise in the incidence of tuberculosis
Date: 1997-11-13
Institutions: European Parliament, NEEDLE
Subjects: Central and Eastern Europe, EU programme, World Health Organisation, accession to the European Union, data collection, developing countries, health control, infectious disease, public health, respiratory disease

16. 6. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187/37

(98/C 187/63)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3644/97

by Clive Needle (PSE) to the Commission

(13 November 1997)

Subject: The rise in the incidence of tuberculosis

The  World  Health  Organization  has  just  published  a  worrying  and  unprecedented  report  on  the  rise  in  the
incidence of tuberculosis. This specifies a number of developing countries plus Latvia, Estonia and the Russian
Federation as (cid:145)hot spots(cid:146) where tuberculosis is resistant to antibiotics and treatment is described as (cid:145)therapeutic
anarchy(cid:146).

Clearly this has implications for several aspects of EU policy and practice in the context of its public health
competence as established in Article 129 of the Treaty on European Union.

Will the Commission therefore set out urgently its approach to tacking tuberculosis with particular reference to
assistance for health programmes in developing countries?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-3642/97, E-3643/97 and E-3644/97
given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission

(20 January 1998)

The Honourable Member refers to a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) press release on the appearance of
(cid:145)sensitive areas(cid:146) where it has become practically impossible to protect the population from drug-resistant strains.
The press release is based on a study entitled (cid:145)Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance in the World(cid:146), which cites
cases of multi-resistant bacillary tuberculosis (MR-TB) in a large number of countries on all continents. The
affected areas on the European continent are primarily the countries of eastern Europe (Russia, Latvia, Estonia).

In  this  field,  the  Commission  has,  since  1996,  been  providing  funds  for  the  establishment  of  a  European
tuberculosis surveillance network, known as EuroTB. This network extends beyond the Member States. The data
collected  cover  49  countries  in  the  WHO  European  region,  including  the  15  Member  States.  The  network
operates in close cooperation with the WHO and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Pulmonary
Diseases.

In addition, and in order to take better account of the problem of multiple resistance, EuroTB has since 1997 also
been collecting and analysing data on resistance to tuberculosis treatment.

With regard to the particular problem of countries applying for membership of the Community, the Commission
has carried out a preliminary assessment of the state of health and of the health system as part of the preparation
for accession. Initial findings bear out the Commission(cid:146)s concern at the resurgence of communicable diseases in
a  number  of  applicant  countries,  and  the  problems  which  may  arise  from  this  situation  not  only  for  those
countries but also for the Community.

The Commission intends to include in the accession partnerships which it is currently preparing measures which
could be taken to improve the situation with regard to these communicable diseases in the applicant countries.

Although the Commission funds no specific programme to combat tuberculosis in the developing countries, it
makes  a  significant  contribution,  through  the  many  health  programmes  which  it  supports,  to  combating  this
major public health problem being faced by many of the developing countries.

It does this by supporting various types of projects, which include projects for developing primary health care
and for supporting health districts, programmes aimed at improving the availability of and access to essential
medicines, of which tuberculosis treatments form an integral part, and preventive measures targeting the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). HIV/AIDS is in fact one of
the causes of the resurgence of tuberculosis, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. By acting to reduce the spread of
the HIV/AIDS epidemic it is therefore possible to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis linked to that epidemic.

For the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, funds committed under the seventh European Development
Fund to these various types of projects total almost ECU 270 million. Substantial amounts have also been made
available for such areas in the countries of the Mediterranean, Asia and Latin America.