Unmask the complexities of TB, a pigeonholed curable disease

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda

The time is closing fast to prevent millions of people dying from susceptible and multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). We need an initiative that will go beyond the intermittent paper declarations that have failed to end TB. We need a marshal plan to generate investments with the potential to lessen the interstate barriers to end deaths caused by this disease and increase productivity—a plan embedded in a multi sectoral framework working towards one global goal. Hundreds of declarations to end the disease have been made, global targets are set every 3-5 years, extensive research and studies have been done.

Innovation is key to #endTB: A disease riddled with myths

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda

Photo credit: Roger Paul, Uganda

Tuberculosis (TB) — the silent killer — has found its place on the agenda of one of the forthcoming United Nations High Level Meetings (UNHLM on TB), for the first time in the annals of history. This has been made possible through the combined efforts of the Stop TB Partnership, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (The Global Fund), United Nations, G-20 nations, UNITAID, Russian Government, media, TB advocates who include TB survivors, celebrities who have spearheaded the campaign against TB, religious institutions and international/ regional/ national development partners.

Universal Health Coverage is integral to achieving the SDGs

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda
In December 2012 the UN passed a landmark resolution endorsing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the same is now at the forefront of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Since then the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified UHC as a top priority for sustainable development and focusing on it as a tool to end TB in the sustainable development era generates a cocktail of strategies. UHC is ultimately a means to promote the human right to health. More than 100 low and middle income countries, home to almost 3/4 of the world’s population, have taken steps to deliver UHC.

Putting communities at the forefront for an AIDS free world

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda

The role of communities is essential in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Community advocacy, service delivery and participation in decision-making have shaped every aspect of the global AIDS response. While community responses, as well as community-based service delivery and advocacy, need to be reinforced, many community networks and civil society organizations (CSOs) are not receiving the support they need to engage fully.

Time to manage diabetes and latent TB

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda
Research has proved that people with diabetes are at high risk of developing active TB disease. This calls for global attention to focus on specific action in order to shift the paradigm of the escalating TB-diabetes burden. These actions should focus on earmarking resources for investment into research, advocacy communication and social mobilization.

Traversing TB’s undulating journey of ambitious targets and facile strategies in achieving SDGs

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda

TB is one of the oldest human infectious diseases, but it was only in 1882 that the German Nobel Laureate Dr Robert Koch discovered the cause of it—Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 135 years down the line of this discovery the disease still remains a silent killer. TB cases are still far from declining at the intended rate to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending TB by 2030.

Reversal of the tide of NCDs requires a strategy shift

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent

Of the 56.4 million global deaths in 2015, 39.5 million, or 70%, were due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The four main NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases. The burden of these diseases is rising disproportionately among lower income countries and populations.

Trading indifference on the triggers of TB is amplifying the burden globally

Roger Paul Kamugasha, CNS Correspondent, Uganda
As we applaud the effort of global players in the fight against TB for the immense resources invested to end TB by 2030, let me, as a TB activist, strongly grieve because of the persistent and pseudo ignorance exhibited  by our global planners. This year’s Global Theme is “Unite to End TB” with the slogan of “Find the Missing Patients with TB”. I find these appropriate and concur with the phrasing. It is in black and white that about 9 million people get TB every year around the world and nearly 2 million deaths are caused by TB alone. This means with every passing minute, 3 persons die of TB and it is  also the leading killer among HIV infected people, responsible for the 30% deaths of HIV positive people.