An international non-governmental organization (INGO), the Global Drug Facility (GDF), will provide 2 million U.S. dollars' new aid to Myanmar to help fight tuberculosis (TB) this year, the local Weekly Eleven journal reported Monday.
The new aid was discussed between the organization and the Myanmar Ministry of Health in Nay Pyi Taw as well as in Switzerland over the past two months after its term of aid ended in the end of 2008.
GDF has been providing Myanmar with TB medicines since 2003.
According to estimation, nearly 100,000 people in Myanmar were infected with the disease every year.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) is expanding its prevention program against TB to the country's southwestern Ayeyawaddy division in addition to Yangon's, other report said.
The program which include taking census on patients infected with TB, medical check-up, encouraging patients and educating people with health knowledge is carried out in seven townships -- Daydaye, Phyapon, Kyaiklatt, Maw Kyun, Laputta, Ngaputaw and Maubin.
According to the Health Ministry, Myanmar has started taking nationwide census on TB patients since April and this year's TB census is the one following that carried out in Yangon division in 2006.
Myanmar, one of 22 countries in the world affected most with TB, cured over 130,000 such patients in 2008, achieving 87 per cent case detection rate and 85 per cent treatment success rate during the year.
The country spent 440,000 dollars in 2007-08 fiscal years, in treating TB patients, according to the ministry.