[h=2]TB cases among FTs almost double since 1995[/h]
December 22nd, 2014 |
Author: Editorial
A National University of Singapore (NUS) study has found that the rise in number of foreigners in Singapore is part of the reason that the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Singapore has shot up since 2008.
The incidence rate of TB had been on a downward trend in Singapore since 1998, even hitting a historic low of 35.1 cases per 100,000 people in 2007. But the number began to climb to around 39 cases per 100,000 people from 2008.
NUS researchers found that the non-resident population have higher TB incidence rates than residents. Since around 2005, the liberalisation of Singapore’s immigration policy has seen a marked increase in the foreign population here, they noted.
In their study, the researchers found that the higher incidence of the infectious respiratory disease among the elderly partly accounted for the increase in incidence of TB among Singapore residents; the resident elderly population here in 2011 was almost double its population in 1995.
“As you grow older, you also have conditions that weaken your immune system, and it’s the immune system that controls the tuberculosis bacteria,” said Dr Hsu Li Yang of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at NUS, who led the study.
Meanwhile, the proportion of TB cases involving non-residents has increased from 25.5% in 1995 to 28.9% in 2004, which then almost doubled to 47.7% in 2011, compared to the figure in 1995.
“An increasing trend of non-resident TB cases contributing to the overall proportion of TB cases over the years could suggest that mass immigration from high TB incidence countries is increasingly contributing to the burden of TB in recent years in Singapore,” noted the study, which cited India and China as some of the countries of origin of these non-residents.
Indeed, the foreign population has exploded since 2006 when the PAP government decided to adopt a super-liberal “foreign talent” policy to help Singapore’s GDP grow at all cost:
But while non-resident TB cases have contributed to the overall TB rates here, the researchers have yet to find a direct link between the increase in the foreign population and the risk of TB among local residents.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 9 million people developed TB and 1.5 million died from the disease last year. Singapore sits within a region that accounts for 29% of the global TB incidence.
Though TB is slowly declining each year and it is estimated that 37 million lives were saved between 2000 and last year through effective diagnosis and treatment, WHO noted that the death toll was still unacceptably high, given that most deaths from TB are preventable.
The incidence rate of TB had been on a downward trend in Singapore since 1998, even hitting a historic low of 35.1 cases per 100,000 people in 2007. But the number began to climb to around 39 cases per 100,000 people from 2008.
NUS researchers found that the non-resident population have higher TB incidence rates than residents. Since around 2005, the liberalisation of Singapore’s immigration policy has seen a marked increase in the foreign population here, they noted.
In their study, the researchers found that the higher incidence of the infectious respiratory disease among the elderly partly accounted for the increase in incidence of TB among Singapore residents; the resident elderly population here in 2011 was almost double its population in 1995.
“As you grow older, you also have conditions that weaken your immune system, and it’s the immune system that controls the tuberculosis bacteria,” said Dr Hsu Li Yang of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at NUS, who led the study.
Meanwhile, the proportion of TB cases involving non-residents has increased from 25.5% in 1995 to 28.9% in 2004, which then almost doubled to 47.7% in 2011, compared to the figure in 1995.
“An increasing trend of non-resident TB cases contributing to the overall proportion of TB cases over the years could suggest that mass immigration from high TB incidence countries is increasingly contributing to the burden of TB in recent years in Singapore,” noted the study, which cited India and China as some of the countries of origin of these non-residents.
Indeed, the foreign population has exploded since 2006 when the PAP government decided to adopt a super-liberal “foreign talent” policy to help Singapore’s GDP grow at all cost:
But while non-resident TB cases have contributed to the overall TB rates here, the researchers have yet to find a direct link between the increase in the foreign population and the risk of TB among local residents.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 9 million people developed TB and 1.5 million died from the disease last year. Singapore sits within a region that accounts for 29% of the global TB incidence.
Though TB is slowly declining each year and it is estimated that 37 million lives were saved between 2000 and last year through effective diagnosis and treatment, WHO noted that the death toll was still unacceptably high, given that most deaths from TB are preventable.
