Kazakhstan is ranked fourth in the world in terms of the tuberculosis treatment success rate. The country had achieved the WHO 2020 targets ahead of schedule, Health Minister Azhar Giniyat announced. According to her, the significant improvement of the country’s epidemiological indicators was achieved due to the introduction of the latest international methods of disease detection, diagnosis and treatment, as well as the centralized provision of anti-tuberculosis drugs.
“The treatment success rate of the tuberculosis patients in our country is one of the highest in the world, since in 2021 it amounted to 85.9 percent among patients with drug-susceptible tuberculosis, while the WHO standard is 85 percent. As regards the cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis, the rate was 80.2 percent, while the WHO standard is 75 percent,” said Giniyat.
Overall, over the past 20 years, the TB incidence in Kazakhstan has decreased by more than fourfold, while the mortality rate has fallen by 15.5 times. According to recent WHO estimates, tuberculosis infects nearly 10 million people worldwide and kills 1.5 million every year.
