Belarus' antituberculosis efforts praised

International experts hailed Belarus' antituberculosis efforts, the Healthcare Ministry of Belarus told BelTA as it commented on the results of the 1st Eastern Partnership Ministerial Conference on Tuberculosis and Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis in Riga.

The conference was organized as part of Latvia's Chairmanship in the European Union and was held under the aegis of the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Its major goal is to expand inter-industry cooperation aimed at fighting tuberculosis in vulnerable population.

Attending the events were ministers of the European countries, representatives of the EU, the Eastern Partnership countries, international structures, NGOs. The Belarusian side was represented by First Deputy Healthcare Minister Dmitry Pinevich, First Deputy Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich, leading specialists in healthcare and finances.

The conference highlighted measures aimed at increasing the support for scientific research, optimizing diagnostics and tuberculosis treatment, improving the work with the vulnerable population prone to tuberculosis. Issues on optimizing the financing of antituberculosis events and measures to control tuberculosis distribution among migrants were also high on the agenda.

The Belarusian delegation presented the country's latest achievements in the fight against tuberculosis and multidrug resistant tuberculosis. The participants shared the best practices stimulating equal access to tuberculosis prevention and treatment among the vulnerable population, approaches to financing events aimed at fighting tuberculosis.

According to the Healthcare Ministry, this information aroused much interest among foreign counterparts. The best practices were offered for implementation within international approaches. The parties reached agreements on possible cooperation in the provision of Belarusian pharmaceutical products on the Latvian and Lithuanian market and on the completion of the work to present Belarus' concept note to the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria for getting a grant.