DHA Organizes a Workshop Addressing Tuberculosis

The Dubai Health Authority recently held a workshop to discuss ways to address the issue of tuberculosis and prevent new cases of the disease in the country.

Mr Essa Kazim, CEO of the Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA mentioned during his opening speech, the importance of the role played by the various stakeholders to tackle this issue and emphasised on the need for different stakeholders to work together to effectively manage and treat this disease and prevent further cases of TB.

Mr Kazim highlighted the recent WHO report which states that globally there is an increasing incidence of this disease. “Pulmonary Tuberculosis has re-emerged as a priority public health problem globally. The healthcare sector across the world is facing the new challenges posed by this disease such as is the emergence of multi-drug resistant and the correlation of TB to the HIV epidemic.”

He mentioned that it is the DHA’s aim to update and support existing health promoting policies and laws regarding TB control and this he said can be achieved through effective coordinate with different stakeholders in UAE.

Dr Ali Al Marzooqi, Director of Primary Healthcare at the DHA reinforced the need to work with all concerned stakeholders to tackle this health issue and mentioned that statistics confirm that there is an increasing incidence of TB especially since a significant number of cases belong to high TB prevalent countries.

He highlighted the need to review and amend existing laws on tuberculosis as well as the need to focus on the priority issue of developing a unified health management and information system.

Participants also acknowledged the role played by the private sector in providing health care services to the country and discussed giving the private healthcare sector the chance to treat TB cases under strict roles and regulations. This would mean extending the role of the private sector to contribute to the management of TB cases in the country.

Further, the participants also agreed to develop an integrated advocacy, communication and social mobilization strategy to focus on combating the social stigma which often surrounds patients affected with TB and their family.

The workshop stressed on the importance of preventive methods and the need for unified action to address this healthcare concern effectively.

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