Finland helps Russia combat TB

In the current year Finland will allocate 40,000 euros for measures to prevent tuberculosis in Karelia (Northern Russia), said Health Minister Gennady Ogloblin, at a meeting of the government of the republic on Monday.

The agreement between Karelia and Finland on the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis has been functioning for the past three years now, which includes the inoculation of newborn children (99.2%), roentgenofluographic tests of grown-ups (50% of the inhabitants of the republic), and special training courses organized for 140 general practitioners. TB laboratories will be opened in the second half of the current year.

The TB incidence in Karelia is 40 per 100,000 of the population. According to Ogloblin, on the whole, the TB situation in Karelia could well be called as stable, i.e., at last year's level.