By Charles Mangwiro

MAPUTO, April 7 (Reuters) - Mozambique will seek United Nations funding to fight a sharp rise in the lung disease tuberculosis, which has been overshadowed by HIV/AIDS, its health minister said on Saturday.

Health Minister Ivo Paulo Garrido told Reuters almost half of Mozambique's 18 million people were infected with tuberculosis (TB) -- compounding the health crisis posed by HIV/AIDS.

"It is extremely serious not only because of a very high prevalence of TB, but also because of the growing interaction between TB and HIV/AIDS," he said.

"Despite commendable efforts by the government to control it (TB), impact on incidence has not been significant and the epidemic has now reached a serious stage and, for the first time, we will need $22 million from the (U.N.) Global Fund to spend in three years," he said.

The minister said the money would be used for treatment and identification of TB patients, since many Mozambicans who suffer from it live far from health centres or were unaware that they had the disease.

HIV/AIDS infects 1.6 million Mozambicans, with 500 new infections every day.

Garrido said the HIV epidemic has fuelled the rise in TB incidence not only in Mozambique, but across Africa, so that the number of TB cases occurring each year has trebled since 1990.

Garrido said the continent would require $2.9 billion in new funding during 2006/2007 and urged African countries to commit more human and financial resources on anti-TB and HIV efforts.

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