KATHMANDU, Dec. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region is near to attaining the World Health Organization's target of 85 percent cure rate of new smear positive cases of Tuberculosis (TB), the SAARC TB Center said here Sunday.

    At a four-day SAARC Conference on TB, HIV/AIDS and Respiratory Diseases, health experts recommended the effective implementation of the new technology of "Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course" (DOTS) to eradicate TB from the region.

    The experts also proposed to include the DOTS strategy in the curriculum of schools and colleges to educate the youths who are more vulnerable to the disease.

    They suggested SAARC member countries to provide extra inputs to take care of the constraints of urban TB control programs and draw strategies to address cross-border and gender epidemic.

    The conference that concluded here Saturday was participated inby over 700 delegates from seven SAARC countries, namely India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, as well as participants from Britain, Kenya, Thailand and the United States.

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