Despite the promise by all countries to end TB by 2030 (and India to end TB by 2025), decline in TB rates, deaths, and number of new infections, is not steep enough to meet the target. Lot more action (and investment) needs to urgently happen if we are to #endTB in next 101 months globally (and next 41 months in[Read More…]
This article is dedicated to all those who lost their lives to world’s most deadly infectious disease – TB – and to those who defeated it Is it not shocking that an ancient disease that has been with human since long before the recorded history, and is preventable and treatable, still kills around 1.5 million people every year? Molecular analysis[Read More…]
A picture containing text, person, person, suit Description automatically generatedOne year and 10 months ago when first case of corona virus was reported in Wuhan, China, entire world was terrified because no one knew if we have any medicine that will work against it. Possibly our worst fears came true and we witnessed the horrendous impact of the pandemic. One[Read More…]
Tuberculosis has been one of the most damaging infectious diseases of India for several decades. COVID-19 has been the most feared disease In India for over a year now. From the beginning of 2020 to March 2021 , a period of about 15 months, about 150 thousand or 1.5 lakh deaths were caused by COVID-19 in India. The normal number[Read More…]
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB diagnosis and mortality in 2020 has been frightening, to say the least. Recently released WHO data shows that 1.4 million fewer people got TB care in 2020 as compared to 2019- a 21% decrease. Also over 0.5 million people died from TB in 2020 due to lack of diagnosis. Latest data by[Read More…]
“Difficulties in your life do not come to destroy you but to help you release the hidden potential and power”. This quote by the late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a scientist and the 11th President of India, is the dictum for nurse Divya Sojan, who during the 11 years of her nursing career, has battled with tuberculosis (TB) thrice. Here[Read More…]
Co-Written by K Rajasekharan Nayar; Arathi P Rao; Lekha D Bhat; Anant Kumar and Parul Malik The World Health Organization has recently published the latest World Tuberculosis Report (2020) and there are many trends which are of serious concern regarding elimination of this age-old disease from the world (1). At one time, the Tuberculosis did not even spare some very[Read More…]
What causes much more death and tragedy throughout the world, for several decades than Covid-19, but does not cause panic and hysteria, and, is not considered an emergency? It’s TB Folks! Tuberculosis Tuberculosis – or TB, as it’s commonly called — is a contagious infection that usually attacks your lungs. It can spread to other parts of your body, like your brain and spine.[Read More…]
Prevention of TB was the focus of many a sessions at the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Hyderabad, India, on the theme of ‘Ending the Emergency: Science, Leadership, Action.’ This conference comes one year after the first ever United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on TB. One of the commitments made in the political declaration of the UNHLM[Read More…]
It was indeed a humbling experience for me to interact with a few frontline healthcare workers who are courageously fighting the #endTB battle on the ground in Hyderabad, India (the venue for the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health). My day began with meeting G Swamy Reddy, project officer at Lepra Society in Hyderabad. He has been involved with[Read More…]
Without infection there is no disease: Nip the TB infection Prevention of new infections of TB bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and their progression to active TB disease is critical to reduce the burden of TB disease and to achieve the goal of ending TB by 2030. Around 587 million (35%) of the total estimated 1.7 billion people infected with latent TB[Read More…]
Global fight against tuberculosis (TB) is making modest gains, although largely not yet on track to end TB. 2019 Global TB Report of the World Health Organization (WHO) launched on 17 October 2019 gives hope, not despair, because sustained efforts have yielded some significant results. Only European region is on track to meet 2020 targets of 20% reduction in[Read More…]
At the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, a special United Nations High Level Meeting (UNHLM) will be held on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). 193 countries have promised to deliver on UHC by 2030 by committing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But will push on UHC alone deliver on the promise of health for all where ‘no one is[Read More…]
TB and HIV both are preventable, but cutting the chain of transmission of HIV and TB is proving to be a daunting task. Treatment exists for both TB and HIV but disease-burden and deaths every year are indeed alarming. With countdown on towards TB and AIDS elimination targets for 2030, the writing on the wall is clear: business as usual[Read More…]
Every case of active tuberculosis (TB) disease comes from an individual with latent TB infection. And every new case of latent TB infection is a sign of failing infection control, as someone with active TB disease transmitted the bacteria to an uninfected person. Quarter of world’s population has latent TB. TB continues to be the most common opportunistic infection among[Read More…]
(CNS): More and more children around the world are now benefitting from fixed dose combination (FDC) of child-friendly medicines to treat drug-sensitive TB, thanks to the untiring efforts of TB Alliance (Global Alliance for TB Drug Development) and its partners including World Health Organization (WHO), for making these drugs go from development to delivery stage. TB Alliance proudly announced at[Read More…]
Co-Written by Shobha Shukla and Bobby Ramakant Although governments of 193 countries had promised way back in 2015 to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030, the global annual rate of TB decline since then has been much less than what is required. The rate of TB decline which is currently hovering around 1.5%, should catapult to over 10% by 2025 globally,[Read More…]
Alongside boosting research and development of new tools to prevent, diagnose and treat TB, there is an acute need to optimally deploy and maximally utilize existing tools for preventing, diagnosing and treating TB, says Dr Nguyen Viet Nhung, head of national TB programme in Vietnam and Director of National Lung Hospital, Hanoi. Dr Nhung was conferred upon the ‘Honorary Associate[Read More…]
(CNS): When major weak-spots go beyond the purview of health ministry, inter-sectoral programming becomes critical to progress towards ending tuberculosis (TB) by 2030, globally. Indian government has committed to end TB by 2025 – a welcome political commitment indeed – but warrants urgent and unprecedented actions to muscle up the required pace to keep this promise. As our governments[Read More…]
(CNS): At the 2015 United Nations General Assembly, governments committed to achieve SDGs by 2030, one of which is to end AIDS and TB by 2030. If people living with HIV continue to die of TB, we will not only fail to achieve SDGs but also lose gains made in the fights against HIV and TB. Keeping in mind the[Read More…]
WHO recently announced new recommendations to speed up diagnosis and improve treatment outcomes for multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) through the use of a novel rapid diagnostic test called MTBDRsl, and a shorter, cheaper 9-12 month treatment regimen. The new treatment regimen can be completed in 9-12 months— less than half the time required by the current 24-month[Read More…]
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My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
