The healthcare system of Moldova received a lot of medicines for treating drug-resistant tuberculosis, which was purchased with financial support from the Government of Japan. The donation consists of five types of medicines for 50 treatment courses intended for grownups and six types of medicines for ten treatment courses intended for children, IPN reports.

The hand-over event was held at the Institute of Phthisiopneumology “Kiril Draganiuc”. Angela Paraschiv, secretary of state of the Ministry of Health, said that the combating of tuberculosis remains a priority for the authorities. This disease is a burden domestically and internationally. “Today, we have about 900 patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis. For us, it is very important to treat everyone and to have success in this treatment,” stated Angela Paraschiv.

Japan’s Ambassador to Moldova Yamada Yoichiro noted that the drugs were delivered with the technical assistance of the Stop TB Partnership. “According to World Health Organization data, 1.3 million people died from tuberculosis in 2022. Globally, tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death through infectious diseases after COVID-19 and outruns HIV/AIDS this way. Only approximately two in five persons with drug-resistant tuberculosis received d treatment in 2022. The drug-resistant tuberculosis has been a persistent problem, for 75 years since the identification of the first strains,” stated the diplomat. Yamada Yoichiro also said that Japan will continue to contribute to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people.

Moldova’s national tuberculosis response program for 2022-2025 aims to increase the cure rate among patients, to improve access to treatment for all the citizens and to reduce the incidents of tuberculosis by 50% and of mortality by 75% against 2015.