CNS: APR 2015

Showing posts with label APR 2015. Show all posts

Fight against TB in Papua New Guinea: 'Embarrassment of riches' moment?

Dr Paison Dakulala, PNG
Photo credit: CNS: citizen-news.org

[CNS Video] A country like Papua New Guinea (PNG) with 20% projected economic growth rate, still has half of its population at or below the poverty line, and epidemics like TB, are setting off alarm bells - year after year! "Papua New Guinea is a land of the unexpected! 800 languages, overcrowded households, serious environment challenges - are just some issues that make TB control even more complex. 26% of all new TB patients, are children" said Dr Paison Dakulala, Deputy Secretary to Department of Health, Papua New Guinea.

Evidence should inform policy: Should we offer antiretroviral therapy soon after HIV diagnosis?

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

There are over 1 million new TB cases in people living with HIV (PLHIV) and 320,000 HIV/TB deaths every year. Moreover HIV increases the risk of getting TB manifold - PLHIV have an annual 5%-15% risk of acquiring TB infection as against is 5%-15% lifetime risk in HIV negative persons. Challenges to concurrent HIV and TB therapy - like pill burden, overlapping drug toxicities, pharmacokinetic of drug-drug interactions, increased risk of immune restoration disease - have led to debates on when to initiate ART in patients with newly diagnosed HIV infection and TB. However, results of a few important studies produce strong evidence to improve treatment outcomes for PLHIV as well as to protect them from co-infections like TB.

Dr Tara Singh Bam, The Union
Photo credit: CNS: citizen-news.org

[CNS Video] Despite strong evidence associating tobacco use with lung diseases, specific lung health programmes are yet to get fully integrated with tobacco control services. "When we provide tobacco cessation services in TB clinics we also reduce the risk of TB, asthma, cancers, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and other lung health diseases attributed to tobacco use significantly - not just for that person but also for those adversely impacted by her or his secondhand smoke! This is also a way to link health promotion from an individual to family and then to wider community" said Dr Tara Singh Bam, Technical Advisor (Tobacco Control) at the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).

Dr Steve Graham
(Photo credit: CNS: citizen-news.org)

If we listen to asthma experts and look at evidence, one reality becomes starkly clear: we have neglected asthma in children for far too long! "I think we have 'gone to sleep a bit' on asthma in resource-limited settings. The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and partners had done studies on asthma (called ISAAC studies), but there is nothing really ever been done since" said Dr Steve Graham, Professor, Department of International Child Health, University of Melbourne, and senior child health consultant at the The Union.

TB-Diabetes is a formidable challenge in Asia Pacific

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

TB is the top infectious disease killer that infected 9 million people, killing 1.5 million of them, in 2013. The Asia Pacific region carries 56% of this global TB burden, accounting for 5 million TB cases, and more than half a million TB related deaths in 2013. According to the Diabetes Atlas 2014, diabetes affects 387 million people worldwide out of which 213 million are in the Asia Pacific region. in 2014, diabetes killed 4.9 million people worldwide out of which 3 million (60%) were in the Asia Pacific Region.

After years of neglect, growing attention to TB in children in Asia Pacific

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

Dr Steve Graham

TB is a neglected disease, killing 1.5 million people each year. But perhaps the most neglected group of TB patients is the estimated 550,000 million children or more, who suffer from the disease each year. TB is commonly passed from adults to children and is among the top 10 causes of illness and death among children, killing more than 80,000 each year.

[Focus] Childhood tuberculosis beyond 2015

[Read full article based upon this interview here]

[Focus] Ignoring basic TB control fuels drug-resistance

[Read full CNS article based upon this interview here]

Ignoring basic TB control fuels drug-resistance: Call for shorter, effective therapies!

Dr Mario Raviglione, WHO

Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) besides being a brewing public health emergency, is also a sordid reminder of what happens when most effective drugs, become ineffective - and - alarming number of people die of diseases which were much simpler to prevent, treat and cure in the past. "480,000 people developed multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 2013, with 210,000 associated deaths. India, China, Russia, Pakistan and Ukraine have 60% of all MDR-TB cases in the world. Former USSR countries have highest percentage of new TB cases with MDR-TB" said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Global TB Programme, who was speaking at the 5th Asia Pacific Region Conference on Lung Health in Sydney, Australia.

[Focus] Fighting TB and diabetes in the Pacific Islands

[Read the full article based upon this interview here]

Pacific approach to deal with the dual burden of TB-diabetes

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

Dr Richard Brostrom

[CNS video] Many of the 22 countries that comprise the Pacific Islands region have very high rates of type-2 diabetes (upto 37% prevalence in adults) and high rates of TB as well (upto 343 cases per 100000). In fact 7 of the world’s top 10 countries with the highest prevalence of diabetes are in the Pacific Islands region: Tokelau, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, Cook island, Nauru, Micronesia and Kiribati. Similarly, some countries also have very high TB rates. It is no wonder then that the problem of TB-diabetes co-morbidity afflicts this region as well.

[Focus] Fight against TB gains momentum in Viet Nam

[To read the CNS article click here]

[Focus] Why TB-Diabetes & TB-HIV collaborative activities are important?

Fight against TB gains momentum in Viet Nam: "Today's best can be made better tomorrow"

[CNS video] Viet Nam is not only a high burden country for tuberculosis (TB) but also for multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) as well as HIV. Despite challenges, Viet Nam has made significant progress in fighting TB country-wide. For instance, the treatment success rate for MDR-TB hovers around 48% for most of the world, but Viet Nam is among the five countries where treatment success rate for MDR-TB has touched 70%. Despite progress, formidable challenges remain.