The federal government created an interministerial committee aimed at developing actions to eliminate tuberculosis in the country. The decree providing for the new structure, called the Interministerial Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis and Other Socially Determined Diseases (Cieds), was published today (18) in Official Diary of the Union (DOU).
It will be up to the Ministry of Health to coordinate the actions of the body that will operate until January 2030. According to government data, Brazil concentrates a third of tuberculosis cases in the Americas, with about 72.6 thousand new cases per year and 4.7 thousand deaths.
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Tuberculosis is an infectious and transmissible disease that primarily affects the lungs, but can also attack other organs. The pulmonary form, in addition to being more frequent, is primarily responsible for maintaining the transmission chain of the disease. It is strongly influenced by social determination, showing a direct relationship with poverty and social exclusion.
Among the main symptoms are coughing for three weeks or more; fever during the day, night sweats and weight loss.
In 2017, Brazil made a commitment to rid itself of the disease, reducing, by 2035, the incidence rate of tuberculosis by 90% and a 95% reduction in the number of deaths from the disease in the country, when compared to 2015 data.
vulnerable
In the country, the populations considered most vulnerable to the disease are the homeless, who have a 56 times greater risk of falling ill from tuberculosis; deprived of liberty, with a risk 26 times greater; people with HIV/AIDS, with 21 more chances; and indigenous people, with a risk three times higher.
According to the Ministry of Health, the population deprived of liberty represents approximately 0.3% of the Brazilian population, and contributed with 9.9% of the new cases of tuberculosis notified in the country in 2021 (8,637 new occurrences). For people living with HIV, tuberculosis is one of the conditions with the greatest impact on mortality in this population.
For indigenous populations, the challenge is to promote access to health services in the villages. With regard to homeless people, approach and reception strategies are essential for the early identification of people with respiratory symptoms, guaranteeing the diagnosis and follow-up until the end of the treatment.
Work plan
The committee will be responsible for promoting intersectoral actions for the elimination of tuberculosis and other socially determined diseases as public health problems in the country. The decree establishes that Cieds must, among other measures, prepare, approve and execute a work plan for its activities and monitor its results; analyze partial results, with the reformulation of goals in the work plan and propose ways and mechanisms for disclosing the actions carried out.
In addition to the Ministry of Health, the committee includes representatives of the Ministries of Science, Technology and Innovation; Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger; of Human Rights and Citizenship; of Education; of Racial Equality; Integration and Regional Development; Justice and Public Security; and Indigenous Peoples.
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