Showing posts with label Cape Town 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cape Town 2015. Show all posts
Does MPOWER really empower women?
Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Well, the answer seems to be NO, as was made out in the deliberations at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health held in Cape Town recently. WHO had introduced the MPOWER measures in 2008 to assist in the country-level implementation of effective interventions for tobacco control as contained in the global tobacco treaty (formally called the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).
MDR-TB care: Where do we go when health systems are overburdened?
Alice Tembe, CNS Special Correspondent, Swaziland
In any situation of health crisis, it is normally assumed that care of the sick, especially infectious patients, is designated to clinically trained nurses and doctors in hospital settings. Today, as the world battles with the epidemic of infectious diseases like TB and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), many settings are faced with limited bed-capacity to hospitalize and care for patients till they can be integrated back into the community.
MDR-TB treatment: Comprehensive health system response is needed
Dr Diana Wangari, CNS Special Correspondent, Kenya
Marian Loveday of the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), presented a real life interesting case study at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, held in Cape Town recently, which illustrated the typical treatment journey of a multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patient in South Africa. South Africa, where a decentralized model of treatment is being adapted in most facilities, has one of the largest MDR-TB epidemics in the world found in its Kwa Zulu-Natal Province, with approximately 75% of the MDR-TB patients being co-infected with HIV.
Marian Loveday of the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), presented a real life interesting case study at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, held in Cape Town recently, which illustrated the typical treatment journey of a multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patient in South Africa. South Africa, where a decentralized model of treatment is being adapted in most facilities, has one of the largest MDR-TB epidemics in the world found in its Kwa Zulu-Natal Province, with approximately 75% of the MDR-TB patients being co-infected with HIV.
m-Health solutions for TB care: A moment to ponder
Dr Diana Wangari, CNS Special Correspondent, Kenya
In a world where the use of information and communication technology is on a constant rise, the mobile phone, in particular, has permeated to low-income nations where, even in the remotest of areas, it is becoming a form of a necessity. It then seems logical that we utilize this gadget, as much as we can, in seeking health solutions. During the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health held in Cape Town, results of some of the m-health projects for TB care and control piloted in different countries were shared in a lively session.
 |
| Dr Evan Lee (R) |
[Call to register for webinar] Half battle won with new child-friendly TB drugs: What's the other half?
[Webinar recording] We welcome you to register
for an exclusive media webinar on 'Half the battle won with new child-friendly TB drugs. What is the other half?' As we know, the world's first appropriate, child-friendly fixed dose combination (FDC) medicines to treat children suffering from drug-sensitive TB were announced just ahead of the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cape Town, South Africa. Get connected with noted experts from lead
agencies such as the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), TB Alliance, Stop TB Partnership and its Global Drug Facility, who will present and respond to questions live!
Inhaled drug therapy for TB treatment
Alice Tembe, CNS Special Correspondent, Swaziland
In the light of the outcry of the high pill burden, severe toxicity and high treatment non-adherence rates, and many more challenges associated with the treatment of TB, in particular of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), innovative drug therapies are beginning to be explored. One of them - inhaled TB drugs - were presented at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health held recently in Cape Town.
In the light of the outcry of the high pill burden, severe toxicity and high treatment non-adherence rates, and many more challenges associated with the treatment of TB, in particular of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), innovative drug therapies are beginning to be explored. One of them - inhaled TB drugs - were presented at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health held recently in Cape Town.
Connecting the dots: Mental health and tuberculosis
Alice Tembe, CNS Special Correspondent, Swaziland
As I get totally swathed by the very inspiring and tiring 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, a serious thought that came to my mind was the connect between mental health and TB. This was a question also posed by Dr Annika Sweetland, a Research Scientist in the Department of Psychology from Columbia University, also tried to answer a similar question in one of the sessions: Does TB predispose patients to mental health disorders, and, are mental health disorders a risk factor to developing active TB?
 |
| Dr Annika Sweetland |
TB-HIV in pregnant women: Does drug metabolism change?
Dr Diana Wangari, CNS Special Correspondent, Kenya
In a global conference where lung health is addressed in different tracks through parallel and equally stimulating sessions, with emphasis on TB, one often finds oneself struggling about what session to attend and which one to forego on behalf of the other. I was often faced with a similar dilemma while attending the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health. Therefore, when I came across the session 'Maternal and Infant TB: Advancing our understanding of pathogenesis, treatment and prevention', I had to pause.
 |
| Photo credit: CNS: citizen-news.org |
Will 2030 Global Goals help accelerate progress towards ending TB?
Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
[CNS video] This article is based upon an exclusive interview with Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO's Global TB Programme. Dr Raviglione spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service) at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cape Town, South Africa. As we know, the Global Goals for Sustainable Development 2030 adopted by the governments at the 70th United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, present an integrated development agenda.
[CNS video] This article is based upon an exclusive interview with Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO's Global TB Programme. Dr Raviglione spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service) at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cape Town, South Africa. As we know, the Global Goals for Sustainable Development 2030 adopted by the governments at the 70th United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, present an integrated development agenda.
Lesson from the frontlines: Decentralized care and treatment for MDR-TB
Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
During the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, that just concluded in Cape Town, I had the opportunity of visiting the close-by township of Khayelitsha, where Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), more commonly known as Doctors Without Borders, has, since 2007, implemented a decentralized model of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) care.
During the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health, that just concluded in Cape Town, I had the opportunity of visiting the close-by township of Khayelitsha, where Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), more commonly known as Doctors Without Borders, has, since 2007, implemented a decentralized model of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) care.
TB Chronicles: A leading example of community-driven approach in Eastern Cape South Africa
Dr Diana Wangari, CNS Special Correspondent, Kenya
In Kenya, there is a phrase ‘serikali saidia’ which translates to ‘government help us’ and it is often that you will find that this phrase appear in conversations of victims of disaster situations. Therefore, if a bridge is swept away during a flood, you are bound to hear the villagers explaining how fundamental the bridge is to their day-to-day activities and their plea to the government is that it builds a stronger and wider bridge next time.
 |
| Learners from Masakhe Primary School in Duncan village, East London |
Patient-centred approach for MDR-TB treatment: Are we ready?
Alice Tembe, CNS Special Correspondent, Swaziland
As the world gears up for ‘The New Agenda: Lung health beyond 2015’ - the inspired theme of the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, a new buzz word doing the rounds is about keeping patients central to all treatment approaches and not merely a number in data.
 |
| Dr Jennifer Furin (L), Alice Tembe (R) |
Turning the tide on drug-resistant TB
Dr Diana Wangari, CNS Special Correspondent, Kenya
There is a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein, “If you always do what you always did you will always get what you always got.” The point being that if you want to change the end results, you need to change the way you do things. The escalation of multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), with approximately 480,000 new cases of MDR-TB reported in 2014 globally, has challenged the principles of care for TB patients.
 |
| Photo credit: CNS: citizen-news.org |
Half the battle won: Need to accelerate roll-out of child-friendly anti-TB drugs
Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)
Monique Davids, mother of 4 children, lives in Cape Town, the venue of the ongoing 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health (conference theme is 'A new agenda: Lung health beyond 2015'). She is a living example of what it is to be the caregiver for children suffering with TB. The past one year seems to have aged her a lot making her look much older than her 32 years. Her fiance and father of her four children contracted TB which he passed on to his two children - his youngest son Jaden was diagnosed with TB in 2014 at the age of two months, along with his 3 years old sister.
 |
| Monique Davids (R) with her son Jaden (in her lap) |
End TB agenda: Have we done enough?
Alice Tembe, CNS Special Correspondent, Swaziland
As the world was commemorating the World AIDS Day on the 1st of December 2015, it came to fore that tremendous progress has been made in the past three decades-- from ‘no name for the wasting disease, no antiretroviral treatment (ART) for adults or children, no special trained doctors/nurses/laboratory specialists, no diagnostic equipment’, to ‘patient friendly treatment for both adults and children, state of the art equipment for diagnosis and continued care, elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, specialized health care professionals and significant improvement of the quality of life for persons living with HIV’.
As the world was commemorating the World AIDS Day on the 1st of December 2015, it came to fore that tremendous progress has been made in the past three decades-- from ‘no name for the wasting disease, no antiretroviral treatment (ART) for adults or children, no special trained doctors/nurses/laboratory specialists, no diagnostic equipment’, to ‘patient friendly treatment for both adults and children, state of the art equipment for diagnosis and continued care, elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV, specialized health care professionals and significant improvement of the quality of life for persons living with HIV’.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)