FIJI is standing united with children in our society to fight tuberculosis.
This is the comment of Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts Permanent Secretary Iowane Tiko during the commemoration of the World Tuberculosis Day at the My Suva Picnic Park on Thursday.
“A special focus for today ladies and gentlemen is TB in children,” Mr Tiko said.
“Childhood TB deserves special attention because it is difficult to diagnose and it often goes undetected.
“Globally about half a million children will become ill because of TB and as many as 70,000 children will die from the disease.
“Children who are suffering silently with this disease need a voice.”
Mr Tiko said in Fiji last year 63 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with TB and he urged children and parents to take heed of preventative messages on this disease.
“In creating awareness of prevention, we ought not to underestimate the impact that young learners have on influencing opinion and practice in their homes.
“I must therefore say we need more talanoa sessions with our children to create more awareness in our homes and schools,” Mr Tiko said.
In his address, national TB control officer Dr Frank Underwood said the World Health Organization and its partners were promoting dialogue and collaboration that would unite individuals and communities in new ways to end the TB epidemic.
“TB remains an important public health problem,” Dr Underwood said.
“However, we all need to continue to work hard together to ensure efforts are scaled up and sustained over the next 20 years for Fiji to realise our commitment to eliminate TB.”
