It is not natural disasters but manmade barriers that block access to TB care

It is not natural disasters (like hurricanes or storms) which block access to TB care services most times, but manmade barriers that fuel injustices, inequities, greed, and risk factors that put people at risk of TB disease and death.

[video] Science has gifted us tools to diagnose, treat and prevent TB but are we using them optimally and maximally?

[video] End TB-related stigma in healthcare settings

We cannot leave the older people behind if we are to end TB

One in four persons globally who had developed active TB disease in 2022 was over 55 years of age as per the latest WHO Global TB Report 2023 - around 2.7 million people. But over a million of these older people were missed by TB services (or not notified to the national TB programmes if they ever received any kind of care or not).

[video] To end TB we must address TB risk factors, says Dr Sajeevan KM

[video] Compassion and use of best of tools to test, treat and prevent TB is vital

[video] Do not leave the children behind: Find all TB, treat all TB and stop the spread

Treatment is prevention: Stop the spread of infection by finding all and treating all TB

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” 

These golden words of Michelangelo perhaps sum up the fundamental gap in the fight to end TB worldwide.

[podcast] Why cannot all people in need have access to best of TB tests and treatments?

In this podcast, Manitosh Ghildiyal, TB and HIV human rights activist, shares his personal lived experience with HIV as well as TB - and how he is advocating for people-centred responses to end TB and end AIDS. Why cannot all people-in-need get better tests and new shorter and more effective treatments for TB? he asks.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

[video] Why cannot ALL people-in-need get better tests and more effective treatments for TB?

[video] Detecting all TB cases and treating them is critical to stop the spread of TB

149 experts call to find all TB to stop TB

One hundred and forty nine delegates of 78th National Conference of Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases ( NATCON) have endorsed a global call to find all TB to stop TB, which has 1 key ask: Stop missing TB cases, by taking 2 actions:

1. Replace smear microscopy 100% with WHO recommended molecular tests as soon as possible, along with a paradigm shift from a lab-centric to a fundamentally people-centric model to find TB, leaving no one behind
2. Find the missing millions! Screen everyone (and not just those with TB symptoms) in high burden settings with WHO recommended screening tools, and confirm those with presumptive TB using molecular tests.

[video] 149 TB experts at 78th NATCON call to find all TB to Stop TB

[video] Go to the communities and #findAllTB

Thrissur journalists call to #FindAllTB to stop TB

Why are shorter, safer and more effective treatments for drug-resistant TB not reaching everyone in need?

Is it not a paradox that a preventable, diagnosable, treatable, and curable bacterial infection disease is still 1.30 million people every year. Yes we are talking of TB. Today we have all the solutions to #EndTB - point-of-care molecular tests to diagnose drug sensitive and drug-resistant TB upfront within an hour or so, and begin patient-friendly shorter treatment regimens ("same day test and treat") to get rid of this dreaded disease. And yet in 2022, an estimated 10.6 million people developed TB globally, out of which 410,000 cases were of drug-resistant TB. Moreover only less than half of those with drug-resistant TB (43%) were able to access treatment.

[podcast] When we can reach the moon then why cannot we reach the unreached people in the communities with health services?

This podcast features Dr Rennis Davis Kizhakkepeedika, President of Association of Pulmonologists Thrissur; Professor and Head, Pulmonary Medicine Dept and Vice Principal, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences; and part of lead organising committee of 78th National Conference of TB and Chest Diseases (NATCON, 2-4 February 2024 in Thrissur). Dr Rennis was on the panel for #EndTB Dialogues. For more information on NATCON in Thrissur (2-4 February 2024) please visit: www.natcon2023thrissur.com

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Podtail, BluBrry, Himalaya, ListenNotes, American Podcasts, CastBox FM, Ivy FM, Player FM, iVoox, and other podcast streaming platforms.

[video] If Indians can reach the moon then why cannot we reach the unreached people with health services?

Close the tap: Mopping the floor approach is not enough to end TB

As per the latest Global TB Report of the World Health Organization (WHO), globally 10.6 million people developed TB in 2021 - an increase of 4.5% from 10.1 million in 2020. Eight of the thirty high TB burden countries (India, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo) accounted for 68% of the global total with India leading the pack at 28%.

Will shorter, safer and more effective TB regimen reach those in need?

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"Patients in India and other countries are falling ill with drug-resistant TB every day. We believe these patients should not have to wait, they need better treatments today – not one or few years down the line. We have the data and strong scientific evidence to show why shorter, safer, more effective regimens to treat drug resistant TB be scaled up programmatically” said Dr Animesh Sinha, Advisor for Tuberculosis at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders.