Increase in Tuberculosis Patients Aged 65 and Over... KDCA Discusses Overcoming Strategies

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency will hold the 'Private-Public Partnership Tuberculosis Management Project Evaluation Conference' on the 27th in collaboration with the Korean Academy of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases.

The Private-Public Partnership (PPM) Tuberculosis Management Project is a program in which the government and private medical institutions cooperate to manage tuberculosis patients until the completion of their treatment. More than 80% of tuberculosis patients receive treatment at medical institutions participating in the PPM. There are 187 such medical institutions.

The PPM project began in 2011. The incidence of tuberculosis in South Korea decreased by 60% over 11 years, from 50,091 cases in 2011 to 20,383 cases last year. In terms of treatment outcomes, patients treated at medical institutions participating in the PPM project had a treatment success rate 8.4 percentage points higher than those treated at non-participating institutions.

In particular, the treatment success rate for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which is difficult to treat, was 75.5%, 10.4 percentage points higher than the average of OECD member countries (65.1%). This is the result of various policies such as increasing the use of new drugs and operating expert consortiums.

However, the number of reported tuberculosis cases up to the third quarter of this year increased by 0.1% compared to the same period last year. The increase was especially noticeable among those aged 65 and older, with a 5.0% rise. Approximately 600 tuberculosis management officials nationwide, including city and provincial health center tuberculosis officers and medical staff from PPM participating institutions, will attend this evaluation conference. They will share tuberculosis management achievements and discuss ways to overcome recent challenges such as the increase in tuberculosis incidence.

Since the recent rise in tuberculosis cases is particularly prominent among the elderly aged 65 and above, who may be socially and economically vulnerable, measures to strengthen the management of vulnerable and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients will also be discussed.

Director Ji Young-mi emphasized, "As domestic tuberculosis incidence is at risk of shifting to an increasing trend this year, we must accelerate the achievements made so far through the thorough implementation of the '3rd Comprehensive Tuberculosis Control Plan' announced last March and close cooperation between the public and private sectors."