Pakistan ranks fifth among countries most severely affected by tuberculosis in the world. This was stated by the country's director-general health services Ahsan Ahmed at an international preparatory conference on tb in Bankok recently. He urged the international community to assist Pakistan's efforts to eradicate the disease by providing technical and financial assistance. Describing the situation in the country as alarming, he said Pakistan had taken various measures to keep the disease in check but admitted that the programme was greatly hamstrung by financial and technical problems.