"Breath Life. Together Against Tuberculosis"
Posted on Mar 28, 2011
By Jose Alonso Valdivia
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SES staff welcome people to the day's events. | |
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Mayor Susana Villarán with patients and supporters. | |
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A patient recounts her struggle with tuberculosis. | |
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Gastón Acurio advocates for greater awareness. |
On March 24, 2011, the Municipality of Metropolitan Lima and the Peruvian Ministry of Health carried out the “Breath Life. Together Against Tuberculosis” forum.
Presided over by Lima’s mayor and national health officials, most of the World Tuberculosis Day events were held at the capital’s city hall. A national event, mayors and representatives from various districts of Lima, as well as a variety of people associated with the fight against this disease, attended.
Socios En Salud (PIH’s sister organization in Peru), the NGO Pathfinder International, and the Center for Social Process organized the day’s events. Funding came from the Global Fund.
Today, Peru has one of the world's most successful tuberculosis (TB) programs, in part because of the widespread use of direct observational therapy, short-course (DOTS).
The World Health Organization reports that the decline in the incidence of TB in Peru almost doubled between 1991 and 1999 through the implementation of DOTS—preventing at least 70,000 cases and deaths. If this trend continues, the incidence of TB in Peru could be halved every 10 years.
A unique success story, Peru has met the WHO targets for TB control with a 70 per cent case detection rate and an 85 percent cure rate. Peru has one of the highest TB incidence rates in the Americas.
Sixty percent of TB cases and 80 percent of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases are concentrated in Lima. This situation demands that district authorities of Lima, the Lima provinces, and Callao not delay any longer in taking action to avoid the spread of the disease.
Today’s events focused on lowering these rates even further.
In an act of solidarity, the mayor of Lima, Susana Villarán, and the attending authorities signed an act committing to support detection, control, and preventative actions.
During the event, the renowned chef Gastón Acurio—owner of international restaurants, author of several books, host of his own television program, magazine contributor, and TB advocate—asked how Peru was experiencing its greatest economic growth in the country’s history and yet is unable to eradicate tuberculosis, a preventable and curable disease.
A number of people affected by TB, health promoters, authorities and people fighting against the disease, ended the day’s events by speaking on the main stage.
There was a prayer for those who’ve died from tuberculosis as well as those living with the disease, as they symbolically let go butterflies, alluding to the theme of the day’s event: “Breath Life. Together Against Tuberculosis.”
Learn more about Socios En Salud.
Visite el sitio web en español de Socios En Salud.
DÍA MUNDIAL DE LA LUCHA CONTRA LA TUBERCULOSIS
A medio día de hoy, la Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima y el Ministerio de Salud realizaron el FORO RESPIRA VIDA, JUNTOS CONTRA LA TB.
El acto, llevado a cabo en el municipio, fue realizado a propósito de la conmemoración del Día Mundial de la Lucha contra la tuberculosis y contó con la presencia de alcaldes y representantes de los distritos de Lima, y diversos personajes vinculados a combatir esta enfermedad.
En Lima se concentra el 60% de los casos de enfermos con tuberculosis simple y el 80% de tuberculosis multidrogorresistente. Esta situación hace impostergable que las autoridades distritales y de las regiones de Lima Provincias y del Callao tomen acciones para evitar la propagación de la enfermedad.
Luego de las exposiciones, la Alcaldesa de Lima, Susana Villarán, y las autoridades asistentes firmaron un acta en la que se comprometieron a apoyar acciones de detección, control y prevención.
Durante la cita, el reconocido chef, Gastón Acurio dio un mensaje a los asistentes y cuestionó el tener el mayor crecimiento económico de nuestra historia, ser líderes culinarios y no ser capaces de erradicar la tuberculosis, una enfermedad que es prevenible y curable.
Finalizado el foro, en la Plaza Mayor de Lima, se realizó un acto simbólico con la presencia de personas que fueron afectadas por la tuberculosis, promotores de salud, autoridades y personas que luchan contra la enfermedad.
En este acto se realizó una oración en memoria de los fallecidos y los afectados, y de manera simbólica se soltaron mariposas que aluden al lema de la conmemoración del día: “Respira Vida. Juntos contra la Tuberculosis”.
Estas actividades, referidas a la sensibilización de la población y sus autoridades, son implementadas con el liderazgo de Socios En Salud Sucursal Perú en conjunto con la ONG Pathfinder International, y el Centro Proceso Social. Son financiadas por el Fondo Mundial, que ve en el Perú un modelo de lucha contra la tuberculosis que puede replicarse en otros países.
Lima, 24 de marzo del 2011
