H.E. Dr Mam Bun Heng, Minister of Health,
Mr Polly Dunford, Mission Director, USAID/Cambodia,
Mr Sean Callahan, Acting Mission Director, USAID Cambodia
Dr Mao Tan Eang, Director of CENAT,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very grateful to CENAT of the Ministry of Health, the Pouk District and Siem Ream Province for organizing this World TB Day activity here.
The theme of World TB Day this year is: “Leave no one behind, Unite to End TB”, including actions to address stigma, discrimination, marginalization and overcome barriers to access care.
The Sustainable Development agenda embraces the principle of ensuring no one is left behind in an effort to transform the world and improve people’s lives for the better.
Ensuring and improving access to health services for everyone are essential to reach the target of ending TB by 2030 as part of the SDGs and the WHO End TB Strategy.
Globally, one third (1/3) of people with TB missed out on quality care in 2015. Only 1 in 5 (1/5) people needing treatment for multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis actually received it.
While anyone can contract TB, the disease thrives among people living in poverty, communities and groups that are marginalized, and other vulnerable populations. These include: migrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, miners and others working and living in risk-prone settings, marginalized women and children, and the elderly in many countries including Cambodia.
Factors such as malnutrition, poor housing and sanitation, compounded by other risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol use and diabetes, affect vulnerability to TB and access to care.
Furthermore, access to health care is often hindered by catastrophic costs associated with illness, seeking and staying in care, and lack of social protection, resulting in a vicious cycle of poverty and ill-health. Financial burden of TB patients is also an issue in Cambodia.
In the last decade Cambodia has achieved a great deal in the National TB Program with the leadership of Ministry of Health, the hard work of health workers and communities, as well as the collaboration of health partners.
These achievements include more than 93% success of TB Treatment, the declined TB Prevalence from 1670 in 1990 to 668/100,000 population in 2014, the reduced TB death rate from 157 in 1990 to 55/100,000 population in 2015, the functioning MDR-TB treatment centres and strengthened TB/HIV program synergy.
In particular, the CENAT and many partners made great efforts in active case finding through outreach services for early diagnosis. Cambodia showed that active case finding can reduce the financial burden of TB patients. This is a valuable contribution of Cambodia to the global evidence to take concrete actions in active case finding.
The Health Equity Fund can also relief the financial burden of TB patients. It is encouraging to know that with the coordination efforts within the government and partners, some TB patients are benefiting from this scheme.
However, these are not enough. We need further increase our support to TB patients by achieving Universal Health Coverage and enhancing social protection.
The transmission of MDR-TB adds great urgency to TB program. It is time to make TB care accessible to all. Multi-sectoral commitment and action is crucial for this. We need to “unite to end TB”.
I hope this World TB Day will accelerate our joint actions by TB affected persons and communities, civil societies, NGOs, health-care providers, policy makers, and development partners to fulfil the promise of reaching all people with quality TB prevention and care.
Leave no one behind, let’s unite to End TB.
Thank you.