DUSHANBE, October 24, Asia-Plus  -- Compared to 2004 financing of the national TB-prevention program has tripled this year, First Deputy Health Minister, Nusratullo Salimov, told journalists in Dushanbe on October 22.  

According to him, in addition to budgetary funds, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS/HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria allocated $16.8 million in September.  Further some $6 million were provided by the Global Fund to the HOPE organization, the deputy minister said.  

Salimov noted that to date, the national TB-prevention program has covered some 98.21 percent of the country’s population.  “The program is working in 62 districts and cities across the country,” he said.   

According to the Republican TB-Prevention Center, 4,520 new cases of tuberculosis have been detected in the country over the first nine months of this year, while in 2006, 5,226 new TB cases wee detected in the country.