DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Tanzanian government has moved to start testing tuberculosis sufferers in the country for HIV/AIDS, local press reported on Tuesday.

    Saidi Egwaga, who is in charge of the country's TB and leprosy program, was quoted by The Guardian newspaper as saying that the screening scheme focuses on congested areas such as prisons as well as health-care programs covering HIV/AIDS patients who are toreceive free anti-retroviral drugs.

    The government made the move in the wake of findings that 44 percent of TB patients in the country are also HIV-positive and Tanzania is among 22 countries in the world with the highest incidence of TB. Tanzania ranks the sixth in TB incidence in Africa.

    Though the east African country has a proclaimed goal of detecting 70 percent and treating 85 percent of the TB cases, it is now detecting 49 percent and treating 81 percent of the cases, according to Egwaga who attributed the increase of TB relapses to HIV/AIDS.

    The TB incidence is found higher in eastern Tanzania than in the west of the country with Dar es Salaam alone accounting for 26percent of TB cases.

    Tuberculosis has been ranked as among the three killer diseasesin Tanzania. The other two are HIV/AIDS and malaria. Enditem