Around one hundred new cases of infectious tuberculosis are diagnosed in Finland annually. Most of those cases are found among the elderly.
In 2006, an anti-TB programme was announced in Finland, and this year monitoring and evaluation of the results registered with the National Public Health Institute is beginning.
The incidence of tuberculosis in areas nearby Finland is considered alarming. During the 1990s, the disease became rampant in Russia and the Baltic states.
For nearly a decade the Finnish government has provided support for efforts to combat tuberculosis in the Baltic region and north-west Russia.
Worldwide tuberculosis kills two million people a year.