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Migration and Related Epidemiological Risk Factors Associated with Unavoidable Increments of Tuberculosis Morbid Indicators in Kuwait

Adel AL-Harbie, Ali Sadek, Kim Picozzi, Michael Thrusfield and Susan C Welburn

“5 million lives can be saved between now and 2015 by fully funding and implementing the Global Plan to Stop TB 2011-2015” (WHO 2011). Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a major public health problem and is associated with worldwide demographic infra-structure changes, which can reflect the disease prevalence and mortality especially among foreign-born residents and new immigrants from TB-endemic regions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has considered tuberculosis to be a global, contagious, epidemic, public health emergency since 1993. Objective: This work assesses and retrospectively presents a descriptive analysis the epidemiological trends of tuberculosis morbid indicators and related fatality by gender and nationality which is associated with international migration into Kuwait. Methodology: Demographic data were obtained from the authorized Kuwaiti national records over a 29-year-period (1984-2012). Results: Non-Kuwaitis had higher TB morbidity and mortality rates than Kuwaitis and also male rates were comparatively higher than those of female. Since 2004 re-increment of all morbid trends was observed. Conclusions: TB became a disease of specific subgroups in Kuwait (low incidence country) which requires focused interventions on expatriates from various ‘at risk’ geographic localities. Overcoming higher rates of TB morbidity and mortality of non-Kuwaitis’ in comparison to those of Kuwaitis’ constitute a public health challenge that deserves urgent evaluation, developing a new health policy and re-structuring of the tuberculosis control program to reduce the burden of tuberculosis in Kuwait.