Stop TB Jeddah has always made great efforts to contribute to local health awareness programs and has joined regional conferences aimed at devising ways to clear the world of this chronic disease. One such gathering was held recently in Amman, Jordan under the auspices of the Jordanian Ministry of Health, with a number of officials and celebrities taking part, including Dr. Mohammad Al-Faiz, the Jordanian Minister of Health and Jorge Sampaio, the former president of Portugal who is currently the secretary general of the United Nations program to combat tuberculosis, as well as Jordanian artist Raniya Abu Barkook and the well-known football player Luis Figo. Members of Stop TB groups from different countries along with thousands of health care specialists and social activists attended the conference to learn from each other's experiences and achievements in the region. Mohammed Bakhrieba, founder of the Stop TB Jeddah group, stressed the importance of such meetings as a way to find out what other groups are doing. “The Stop TB groups in Jordan are doing great job. I personally admire them. They gathered together politicians, leaders, actors, football players, youths, TB specialists, patients, and the general public. It was a great event,” he said. Bakhrieba said that he shared with the conference the work that Stop TB Jeddah is doing and he learned about the need to have the commitment of the community in order to fight the disease. “I learned from the conference that in order to make a change, everyone must be committed to the cause,” he said. “TB can slow down the development of our country, so we need to put our hands together to save the coming generations. We need to focus on what it takes to reduce the threat of TB. Our national TB program is doing a great job fighting the disease, exceeding that of many countries, even some in Europe. I think what they are looking for is the involvement of the community, for social mobilization and Stop TB is part of it,” Bakhrieba said. Stop TB Jeddah, which started on Facebook in 2007, emphasizes the importance of social work in promoting health awareness programs. Bakhrieba said, “We have always had strong connections with the national Stop TB program, Jeddah Health Affairs and the World Health Organization, who have all been a great help to us.” This year the group has formed partnerships with many establishments and has received support from different parts of the community in the fight against TB and other diseases in order to make Jeddah a healthier and cleaner city, he said.
