Mar 25, Colombo: Sri Lanka Healthcare and Nutrition Minister, Nimal Siripala de Silva soliciting the public support to fight the Tuberculosis in the country said TB cannot be eradicated only through the efforts of the state alone but with the assistance of society as the disease carries a stigma and misconceptions associated with it.

The Minister was speaking at a ceremony organized by the Health Ministry commemorates world’s TB day yesterday (March 24) in Colombo under the theme “I am stopping TB.”

According to the medical sources, one third of the world population is infected with the TB bacillus. Over 100 million people get infected annually and over 2 million die as a result each year.

In Sri Lanka alone 8,497 cases have been reported last year, health authorities said. Though TB is one of the main public health issues in the country, Sri Lanka is not listed among the South Asian countries that have the highest rates of TB.

Minister stressed that the civil society, school children and patients must be educated on TB, its prevention and treatment as the disease does not carry a stigma as in the past.