Daily Times

KARACHI: Shahid Hussain Narejo, a youngman from Sindh’s Khairpur district wanted to be an engineer but ended up as tailor master because of Tuberculosis (TB). The disease has not allowed him to fulfill his parents’ dreams. Now he works as tailor master in Karachi’s Gulstan-e-Johar Blaock 12.

Hailing from a small village near Gambat in Khairpur, Shahid Hussain, son of a peasant was sent to Karachi in 2000 at the age of 12 by his parents so that he may live with his uncle and may get better education as his village had poor educational structure.

Three years later, he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB). It took three years for Shahid to recover from the disease. But, by then his parents had spend whatever money they had over Shahid’s treatments. As a result, Shahid could not continue his education.

“Due to disease it was not possible for me to continue my studies. Apart from it, my parents had lost every commodity they had over my health expansive,” said Shahid.

“Having found no option, I had become a tailor master to earn bread and butter for my family, he smirked.

Tuberculosis is an airborne disease, and can be caught by breathing in the air that an infected person has contaminated, through breathing and coughing. Symptoms include a lasting cough, fatigue, coughing up blood, chest pain, sweating at night, fever, loss of appetite, and weight loss. It can affect any organ of the body.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), Pakistan ranks fifth amongst TB high-burden countries worldwide. Approximately 420,000 new TB cases emerge every year and half of these are positive.

According to Global tuberculosis report 2016 by World Health Organization (WHO), in 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new (incident) TB cases worldwide, of which 5.9 million (56 percent) were among men, 3.5 million (34 percent) among women and 1.0 million (10 percent) among children. People living with HIV accounted for 1.2 million (11 percent) of all new TB cases.

Six countries accounted for 60 percent of the new cases: India, Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. Worldwide, the rate of decline in TB incidence remained at only 1.5 percent from 2014 to 2015.

World TB Day celebrated on 24 March each year, is an opportunity to raise awareness about the burden of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide and the status of TB prevention and care efforts. It is also an opportunity to mobilize political and social commitment for further progress in efforts to end TB.

Health experts stress on taking preventive measures which need to be taken on personal as well as general level.

“TB patient should keep handkerchief on mouth while coughing,” said Dr. Suleman Otho, Senior Chest Specialist and Public health Consultant.

“Spitting on public places should also be avoided. Besides that at hospitals they should wear masks. On general level, special care should be made for air ventilation at closed public places so that air should keep circulating,” he added.

According to WHO report, three Pakistani cities were among most polluted cities in the world. The report compiled from more than 1,600 cities for the years 2008 to 2013 showed that Karachi ranked number five just ahead of Peshawar and Rawalpindi which stand at six and seven in the list of 20 most polluted cities.

“Air pollution is one of the major causes which not only cause the spread of TB bacteria as well as it affects adversely on TB patient,” Dr Otho added.

“In most cases, TB is treatable and curable; however, people with TB can die if they do not get proper treatment. Sometimes drug-resistant TB occurs when bacteria become resistant to the drugs used to treat TB. This means that the drug can no longer kill the TB bacteria,” Dr Otho stated.