Medicines save lives but not when they stop working
SHOBHA SHUKLA, BOBBY RAMAKANT – CNS
Despite dealing with drug-resistant infections herself since birth and being fully aware of the looming danger of running out of options to treat the infections, it is indeed inspiring to see Gabriella Balasa (also known as Ella) devotedly raising awareness and doing all she can to stop misuse and overuse of medicines and help save lives.
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“The two worst global health problems have combined forces well. But the institutions addressing them have miserably failed to put their act together,” wrote Dr Tim France, a noted global health thought leader, in an op-ed article titled “The chasm between TB and HIV” which was widely published in several newspapers of high TB burden countries in Asia Pacific and Africa in 2006.
If we are to end TB, then we have to find every person with TB and offer accurate and timely diagnosis, treatment, care and support. In other words, we have to eliminate ‘delayed or missed diagnosis’ by making “early and accurate TB diagnosis” a norm, before we can further embark on the #endTB pathway with full force. By doing so, not only people with TB will get treated early on, but we might also have a better shot at breaking the chain of infection transmission.
The conundrum of TB, tobacco use and NCDs in Asia Pacific
Asia Pacific region had over 6.7 million new TB cases and over 883,000 people died of TB in 2021, as per the latest Global TB Report of the World Health Organization (WHO). The top 5 biggest risk factors that caused TB disease in 2021 in Asia Pacific region were undernourishment (1.2 million new cases), tobacco use (502,000 new TB cases), alcohol (486,000 new TB cases), diabetes (234,000 new TB cases), and HIV (209,000 new TB cases).
Preventing TB risk factors is also TB prevention
Are HIV programmes missing the young who need them the most?
BOBBY RAMAKANT – CNS
More than one in every four new HIV infections in Asia Pacific were in the young people in the Asia Pacific region (in 2020). More worrying is that almost all of these new HIV infections in the young people, were among the young key populations. Writing on the wall is clear: unless we scale up HIV programmes and increase programme effectiveness for the young key populations, we will fail to end AIDS by 2030.
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