CNS

The Union hopes India would participate in STREAM trials for MDR-TB drugs

Aarti Dhar, CNS Correspondent, India
[First published in Theindiasaga.com]

The International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union) is hopeful that India would agree to participate in the second stage of the ambitious STREAM studies for the shortened multi-drug resistant TB(MDR-TB) regimen.

Is it the dawn of a new era for MDR-TB treatment?

Alice Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland

It has always been one too many people dying due to Multiple Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB), a disease that can be cured. Even as the world of TB science has been evolving since the past few decades, the degeneration of ordinary TB into drug resistant strains- that are more difficult to treat- continues unabated. Today, inroads are being made towards a new era of shorter, cheaper and better treatment drugs for MDR-TB.

New hope for patients with drug resistant TB

Francis Okoye, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria

Patients suffering from multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), now have the hope of a higher cure success rate with a more patient friendly treatment that was recently approved by World Health Organization (WHO). The new WHO recommendations aim to speed up detection and improve treatment outcomes for MDR-TB, through use of novel rapid diagnostic tests, and shorter and cheaper treatment regimens.

Is plain packaging threatening Malawi’s economy?

Josephine Chinele, CNS Correspondent, Malawi

It is tobacco selling season in Malawi and there is unrest among the tobacco cultivating farmers due to poor prices. Sales for the past five years indicate that tobacco prices have kept falling with each passing year. Even though the farmers keep blaming the contract system-a system where farmers get into an agreement with a buying company on the amount of tobacco they should grow and the company provides them with the necessary inputs for production on loan. During tobacco selling season (like now) all tobacco from contract farmers is bought on a priority basis.

Struggle to get common school system implemented intensifies

Dr Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Awardee and CNS Columnist

[Watch video interview with Dr Sandeep Pandey]
My fast at Gandhi Statue, Hazratganj, Lucknow to get the Allahabad High Court order making it compulsory for anybody in the government system to send their children to government schools implemented ended on the 10th day (15th June 2016) not because of any assurance of the government but because of pressure of my colleagues, well wishers and social activists like Justice Rajinder Sachar, Medha Patkar, Kuldeep Nayar, Dr GG Parikh, Yogendra Yadav, Anand Kumar, Rajendra Singh, PV Rajagopal, Sunilam, Ravi Kiran Jain, Vijay Pratap and my Socialist Party (India) colleagues, both local as well as nationally.

[Focus] Delhi MLA Pankaj Pushkar shares why common school system is so important for democracy

Towards a TB free India: It cannot be a lone battle

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

India carries the highest global burden of TB—a curable disease that kills one Indian every 90 seconds. There are 2.2 million new cases of TB in the country every year, out of which an estimated 71,000 cases are of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB). This curable disease kills 110,000 HIV-associated TB cases also emerging annually in India, second only to South Africa, and the country accounts for 10% of the global TB/HIV burden. Between 2006 and 2014, TB cost the Indian economy a staggering $340 billion.

Fight against lung cancer: Priorities and challenges ahead

Shobha Shukla - CNS

Lung cancer, the most common cancer worldwide, is a major public health problem. In 2012, there were an estimated 1.8 million new lung cancer cases (13% of all cancers diagnosed), and 1.59 million deaths (19.4% of the total cancer deaths). As of now, there is a 27% 5 years survival rate for patients of lung cancer. According to the latest cancer registry data released by the Indian Council of Medical Research, 0.114 million new lung cancer cases (83,000 in males and 31,000 in females) are estimated during 2016 in India.

What the eye doesn’t see, the mind doesn’t know: Pictorial health warnings

Dr Richa Sharma, CNS Correspondent, India

The first thing that crosses my mind on seeing smokers is whether they are aware of what that one cigarette stick is doing to their health and to the health of others. Very often their argument is that, well it is their life and others should mind their own business. But they naively forget that their addiction is affecting other people’s health too and so it is very much their business.

TB Elimination: India can lead the way

Madhukar Pai and Barry R. Bloom

(First published in The Huffington Post)
As the Prime Minister of India speaks to the US Congress this week, a neglected epidemic threatens India's progress. It's not Ebola or Zika - but rather tuberculosis, an ancient disease that silently kills one Indian every 90 seconds.

[Watch webinar recording] We welcome you to register for an exclusive media webinar on the latest WHO recommendations regarding shorter, cheaper and possibly better MDR-TB treatment regimen. Accurate and early diagnosis along with shorter, cheaper and more effective treatment can help countries deliver on their promises to end TB by 2030 or earlier (Sustainable Development Goal 3.3).

Curbing Tobacco Usage: Call of the hour

Pritha Roy Choudhury, CNS Correspondent, India

A narrow lane leads us to a poorly lit small dingy room of a four storied building in the suburbs of Delhi. Veer Prakash is lying in a cot, coughing on and off. His wife Lila Devi dusts two small stools in a corner and arranges them for us to sit. “His cough has aggravated with time, the medicines are costly.

India must stub out attractive packaging of tobacco products

Urvashi Prasad, CNS Correspondent, India

Globally there are one billion people who use tobacco, 80% of whom live in low- and middle- income countries. Tobacco use is estimated to claim the lives of over 6 million people every year. An additional 600,000 lose their lives to second-hand smoke. In fact using tobacco is the single biggest preventable risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which are responsible for nearly 63% of all premature deaths globally.

Why countries should implement domestic tobacco control law

Francis Okoye, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria

Health experts from across the world explained why countries should fully implement domestic tobacco control laws in their respective countries, during an exclusive webinar for media organised by Citizen News Service (CNS) in the lead up to World No Tobacco Day 2016.

Tobacco kills: Plain packaging could be the answer

Tuyeimo Haidula, CNS Correspondent, Namibia

Plain packaging on tobacco products makes them less attractive. The death and health risks from smoking is high, and yet the number of new smokers every year continues to grow. In order to address this issue and highlight the devastating impact of tobacco use on health, the World Health Organization commemorates the World No Tobacco Day on 31st May every year. WHO also advocates for policies that help people quit tobacco use and discourage non-users from starting.

To smoke or not to smoke

Catherine Mwauyakufa, CNS Correspondent, Zimbabwe

The global economic cost related to tobacco consumption is unknown but it is likely over US$1 trillion annually, as per the Tobacco Atlas 2015.Tobacco users underestimate the harm caused to their health and are many times not even aware of these dangers. I have come across persons with a deep cough and shortness of breath and at the same time holding a cigarette in one hand.

The tobacco industry to get ready for plain packaging

Alice Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland

The tobacco industry continues to use aggressive tactics to wedge stumbling blocks to abate and delay tobacco control measures that help to protect the general public from dire health risks. The World No Tobacco Day, that is commemorated on the 31st May every year, was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1988 to highlight the devastating impact of tobacco use on health, as well as to advocate for policies that help people quit tobacco use and discourage non-users from starting.

Akanksha Sethi
A visit to any government health centre will make one realize how heavily (over)burdened are our health systems and how critically important it is to strengthen them. Is it not an irony that a significant burden on our public health system is of preventable diseases? On World No Tobacco Day 2016, let's hope we become conscious of the choices we make in our daily lives so that these choices may not increase the risk of preventable diseases. Tobacco use is a common and major risk factor for a range of life-threatening illnesses including cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and diabetes.

A plain face can take the sheen out of deadly tobacco products

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS

Tobacco use poses the biggest threat to public health in the world today, even as more than 1 billion people consume it globally. It is the leading preventable cause of premature deaths worldwide, killing more than 6 million people each year, and is a risk factor for 6 of the world’s 8 leading causes of death.

World No Tobacco Day 2016: India cannot afford preventable burden of killer tobacco

Dr Raghav Gattani, CNS Medical Correspondent

Prof Rama Kant, WHO DG's Awardee 2005

[हिंदी] India's health systems are already significantly overburdened with tobacco-related diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke), a range of cancers, respiratory illnesses, diabetes, asthma, tuberculosis (TB) among others. "Tobacco diseases are preventable, avoidable, and evidence-based measures are already known to avert this public health disaster. Why are we failing to save lives? Tobacco-related diseases and premature deaths can be prevented. Tobacco kills. Why is the sense of urgency not driving our public health programmes?" said Prof Rama Kant, WHO Director-General's Awardee and former President of Association of Surgeons of India.

Cultural event to create awareness about TB

Urvashi Prasad, CNS Correspondent, India

Photo credit: Urvashi Prasad

The Stop TB Partnership, in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of India and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) organised a cultural event in Geneva on May 21, 2016 (in the lead up to the 69th World Health Assembly) to create awareness about TB and the need for all stakeholders to act urgently to eradicate the disease.

Advocacy for increasing access to care for people living with diabetes

Owen Nyaka, CNS Correspondent, Malawi

Monica Mkandawire is a 40-year-old mother of three who hails from Chikwa village, in Rumphi district. She has been living with diabetes for the last 21 years in Mtandire, a peri-urban area in Lilongwe city. She still vividly remembers her feelings of dizziness, irritability, fatigue, excessive thirst, poor eyesight, and insatiable hunger that she faced before being diagnosed with diabetes.

The biennial Asia Pacific Lung Cancer Conference (APLCC 2016) was successfully organized in Chiang Mai, Thailand (13-15 May 2016) by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), Thai Society of Clinical Oncology (TSCO), Chiang Mai Lung Cancer Group and Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University (CMU).

[Focus] Lung cancer prevention and early diagnosis can save lives in Bangladesh

Screening for breast and cervical cancer is a public health imperative

Akanksha Sethi

Breast and cervical cancers are two major cancers among women. For decades, cervical cancer was the most common cancer in women in India. But now, breast cancer has replaced cervical cancer and become the leading cancer in terms of incidence and number of cancer deaths among women in India. The most common risk factors for breast cancer cited by Dr Pooja Ramakant, Associate Professor, Department of Endocrine and Breast Surgery, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, are: sedentary life style and lack of exercise; obesity; smoking; late age at first child birth; nulliparity; excess estrogen; early menarche and late menopause; not breast feeding; radiation hazards; junk food and at times genetic mutations which may run in the family.

Raising awareness to reduce asthma burden

Catherine Mwauyakufa, CNS Correspondent, Zimbabwe
(First published at The Minica Post)

Since 1998 the world has recognised May 3 as World Asthma Day and this has helped in raising awareness. Asthma is not curable but through proper medication and appropriate management the disease burden can be reduced. The causes of asthma are not wholly understood but include a mix of genetic predisposition and exposure to triggers.

Minimize air hunger and lead a quality life

Dr Amitava Acharyya, CNS Correspondent, India

The recent decades have seen a sharp increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases, including asthma and allergic rhinitis. Both are common long term diseases that affect the quality of life of patients. It is estimated that 350 million people worldwide suffer from asthma and this figure is projected to add more 100 million of people by year 2025.