| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a hospital in Pyongyang in this 2014 file photo. North Korea is stepping up its fight against TB and malaria. Yonhap |
By Jung Da-min
North Korea has set up an international fund to fight tuberculosis and malaria.
In downtown Pyongyang, the Korea Fund against TB & Malaria (KFTM) is an independent organization working closely with the Ministry of Public Health on TB and malaria control plans, the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
According to the KCNA, the fund aims to provide technical and financial help to public health organizations on TB and malaria control by relying on donations from home and abroad.
North Korea has been suffering from a high incidence and mortality from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. The number of cases detected in the country has been rising in recent years despite the international community's humanitarian aid.
In particular, many TB patients are suffering from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Experts say this is because North Koreans tend to abuse antibiotics, after the country's drug management system collapsed following the great famine called the Arduous March in the mid-1990s.
"The fund is now pushing forward such projects as ensuring medicines for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of TB and malaria, improving medical services, elevating the technical qualification of medical workers in the field of TB and malaria control and cooperating with them in their scientific researches," the report said.
"Hong Sung Il, president of the fund, told the KCNA that the fund will strengthen its activities to eradicate TB and malaria through positive domestic and foreign support and cooperation."
The foundation of KFTM came after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM), known more generally the Global Fund, pulled out of North Korea as of June 30.
GFATM spokesperson Seth Fiason told media that "... the unique operating environment in the DPRK (North Korea) prevents us (the Global Fund) from being able to provide our Board with the required level of assurance and risk management for the deployment of resources."
"We do independent checking in other countries in a way that is not fully possible in DPRK."
The Global Fund had disbursed more than 100 million dollars for North Korea since 2010 and the grants were administered through UNICEF and WHO.
Medical doctors and activists from abroad who have been working in North Korea to fight epidemics urged the Global Fund to reconsider its withdrawal, pointing out North Korea's national epidemic programs had largely been dependent on the Global Fund.
The North Korean government also made its voice heard against the Global Fund's decision to end its grants.
According to KCNA, North Korean vice-minister of Public Health Kim Hyong-hun sent a letter to Peter Sands, the Executive Director of the Global Fund on March 10, saying the Global Fund should consider the human suffering it would cause to the country were the Global Fund to leave.