News

On 1 October in Kabul, an agreement on implementation of the project on tuberculosis prevention, worth USD 86 000 (210 000 Litas) was signed between the Embassy of Japan and a non-governmental organization (NGO) Global Partners which develops its activities in Ghor.

Civil specialists of the Lithuania-led provincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Ghor were mediating in the preparation of this project.

This project was signed by Japanese diplomat Katsuhide Ariyoshi and Head of Global Partners in Afghanistan Randy Paul.

It is envisaged that the above-mentioned project will be expanded to cover four more regions in addition to the current four provincial regions of Ghor that already receive tuberculosis prevention measures by NGO Global Partners since 2006. The project is financed by the program of the Japanese Government which supports basic human needs.

The employees of the NGO organize special trainings for the family members of tuberculosis patients in order to educate them to provide nursing and care to the patients, so that they would take their medication regularly. Besides, Afghanistan’s national tuberculosis control program adopted a methodology, according to which families of the patients get portions of rice, oil and other alimentary products.

“Even several decades after the discovery of an effective anti-tubercular drug, there is a loss of thousands of lives yearly, especially in countries, which fall prey to wars and poverty, such as Afghanistan. New drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis, which emerge if patients are not guaranteed a complete course of tuberculosis treatment, are a big threat. The support of Japanese people will reduce this threat,” Aleksandras Matonis, Head of the Lithuanian Special Mission in Afghanistan, said during the signing ceremony.

Annually 95 000 people become ill with tuberculosis and 26 000 of patients die in Afghanistan. The data of NGO Global Partners shows, that according to the statistics of the four regions in Ghor province, there are 333 cases of open form tuberculosis and 120 cases of closed-form of the disease per 100 000 population.

This is the third project financed by Japan in Ghor province this year. The previous ones were also prepared with the participation of civil specialists of the Lithuania-led provincial reconstruction team (PRT).

In the beginning of September, two projects financed by the Japanese Government (worth approximately USD 170 thousand) were inaugurated in Ghor. Due to them 155 persons, 90 of who are women and girls will acquire basic writing and handicraft skills in nine months. NGO Sanayee Development Organization opened education centres in Chagcharan, where women and girls learn embroidery and boys learn how to repair automobiles and motorcycles, radio and television transmitters, as well as carpentry.  Literacy and needlework training centres for women were also opened in the villages of Shaich Ka and Kasi close to Chaghcharan.