NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s TB problem is ticking time bomb for Europe; Controlling the airborne disease takes on additional urgency this year as the country seeks to integrate into EU with a new visa-free regime” – Politico/ LILY HYDE

“… Odessa has the highest rate of TB in Ukraine, with 110 cases per 100,000 people in 2016, and rising fast. Closely linked with migration, instability and poverty, controlling this airborne disease takes on additional urgency this year as Ukraine seeks to integrate into Europe thanks to a new visa-free regime. Part of a migration corridor from Central Asia and the Caucasus to Russia and Western Europe, Ukraine has at least 5 million citizens working abroad … in Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Russia and Germany. Another 1.5 million people have been internally displaced by the war in the east of the country. … * * * Ukrainian health care is theoretically free. In practice, patients pay for services and medication through an entrenched system of kickbacks to medical staff trying to supplement painfully low salaries. …”

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