CNS: Guadalajara 2017

Showing posts with label Guadalajara 2017. Show all posts

Applied health research for making systems work for all is vital to #endTB

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

[Watch video interview] [Listen/ download podcast] "Excellence in health means devoting your life to ending poverty" said physician and comedian Patch Adams many years ago, but these words have gained even more relevance in the current context and development paradigm.

[CNS Inspire interview with Prof Bertel Squire] Research for making health systems work for people is key for #SDGs

Driving out stigma will make it easier for people to talk and heal

Despite growing attention to range of multi-faceted stigma related to HIV and TB, it still not only jeopardizes lives of affected communities but also blocks access to care. At the recently convened 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Guadalajara, Mexico, CNS (Citizen News Service) spoke with few leaders from affected communities to listen to their insights on how to improve TB and HIV care as well as address stigma.

Diverse range of mental health needs need proper attention and care from healthcare providers if are to improve treatment outcomes for people with drug resistant forms of TB or people living with HIV (PLHIV). When treatments span over years or lifetime, and drugs used can be very toxic and may have serious side effects, mental health needs become even more acute. But despite guidelines for palliative care for patients with drug-resistant TB, we are not ‘walking the talk’ on the ground.

Scientific evidence, policy and programmatic linkages between TB and HIV as well as TB and diabetes (and HIV and NCDs) have been getting more attention in recent years, but still lot more synergy between different 'silos' is warranted for optimal public health outcomes. At the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health, several experts from range of countries presented their studies looking at these connections between diseases. If governments are to deliver on the promises of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integrated responses from grounds up are indeed an imperative!

[Watch video interview] [Listen to podcast] Are we losing grip on the evidence-based basic principles that were in the core of fighting tuberculosis? Challenges like drug resistance which are posing a threat to global health security warrant a review. Also, the #endTB dream will continue to remain a mirage if we fail to address social influencers that increase TB risk for a large majority of our populations, severely impacting the most disadvantaged. These were some of the insights shared by Dr Anne Fanning, who has dedicatedly worked for fighting infectious diseases especially TB, and was instrumental in bringing issues of less heard populations such as indigenous peoples to the fore.

[Webinar] Diabetes and latent TB, active TB disease, MDR-TB, tobacco smoking

Gender equity is must for tackling TB

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

According to the WHO Global TB Report 2016, of the 10.4 million new TB cases in 2015, 5.9 million were men (56%), 3.5 million were women (34%) and 1.0 million were children (10%). The global male:female ratio was 1.6:1. Also there were 1.77 million deaths in 2015 due to TB: 1.06 million (59%) were men, 0.50 million (28%) were women and 0.21 million (13%) were children. While the TB bacteria might not differentiate between its male and female preys, men and women do face different risk factors for TB and different barriers to successful TB diagnosis and treatment.

Our governments have committed to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 but without concerted action, the promises will barely remain a mirage. For instance, unless social influencers of tuberculosis (TB) get due attention from all different sectors that have a role to play, we cannot end TB. Also with rapid urbanization, we need to address TB in the context of urban planning and development, that is rapidly and aggressively taking place globally. Although burden of TB varies across countries, but one trend is undeniably too common to miss: the alarming manner in which TB is concentrated in vulnerable populations not just in least developed and developing nations but also in the developed world.

[CNS Inspire interview with Dr Anne Fanning] #EndTB before the 'horse has bolted'

Can we reach the tipping point for childhood TB?

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

An estimated 1 million annual cases of children with TB (although the actual number could be much higher); 210,000 annual deaths from childhood TB - a mortality rate of 21%! More shockingly, 96% of these deaths occur in children who do not receive any TB treatment. A treatable and preventable disease that is not being treated, and certainly not being prevented. A scary situation indeed!

Fighting to death to defeat death

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

Phumeza Tisile, South Africa

"One morning when I woke up in the hospital, it was not just another day. It was a day of numbing silence. I could not hear anything. I switched on the TV, but there was no sound. In a confused state, I went to the nurse. I could see that her lips were moving but I was not able to hear what she was saying. She wrote down on a piece of paper that I had become DEAF. It was so very sudden. Till the previous day, I was okay-listening to music, hearing the laughter of others, and the next day it was all so quiet. I was shocked and frustrated, especially when they told me that my hearing loss was not reversible - it was permanent.”

[Focus] Driving out TB stigma is an imperative to #endTB

Will new tools spur progress to #endTB?

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

The immortal words of Edison, "If there is a way to do it better, find it!" flash in mind when we see low rates of TB decline - which are currently a fraction of what is required to end TB by 2030. Will new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines propel us towards the #endTB targets? The WHO End TB Strategy, aims to end the global TB epidemic by 2035.

(L to R) Dr Mileni Romero, Jose Luis Castro,
Dr Pablo Antonio Kuri Morales, Dr Leonardo Martinez

[हिंदी] Incidentally, the opening day of the largest global lung health conference, also marked the World Obesity Day. One of the important highlights at the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health was the study that probed if diabetes affects latent (or dormant) TB infection.

Two novel TB drugs move into human studies

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service)

TB Alliance Stakeholders' meet in Guadalajara 2017

On the eve of the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health, being held in Guadalajara, Mexico, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) announced the ongoing Phase-1 clinical studies for two new drugs for TB treatment, developed by it.