Brasília, September 15, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Nowadays, around 108.6 in every hundred thousand members of the Indian population are tuberculosis victims. The scarcity of means of survival, through hunting, fishing, and gathering, as a result of the diminution of Indian territories, the lack of basic sanitation, and malnutrition are among the factors that contribute to the spread of the disease in Indian villages, according to the National Health Foundation (Funasa).

Over the next four years, Funasa will try to reduce the incidence of tuberculosis 30% among members of the Indian population. The plan includes the training of 590 specialists in diagnosis and early treatment and the implantation of 54 diagnostic centers in Indian areas.

The next training program will be held in Belém (PA), from September 16-19, at a workshop with directors of Special Indian Sanitary Districts (Dseis). The workshop, which will be conducted by the Indian Health Department (Desai), will bring together coordinators from ten districts and administrators of tuberculosis control programs in Indian areas. The districts that will be represented at the gathering contain 67.8% of the total of registered tuberculosis cases in the country, even though they account for only 37.9% of Brazil's Indian population. (DAS)