The world community is observing the World TB Day today with the theme “Unite to End TB” with awareness campaigns. This day is important as it reminds us that TB has not gone away and there is still a vital need to fight against it by increasing awareness and education about how to prevent ourselves from this disease. This is the first year IL has reported an increase in the number of TB cases since 2005.
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Unfortunately, more than 4,000 people die because of TB every day. “If you don’t have HIV or other risk factors, then 90 percent of the people who get TB infection will hold it in check for their whole lives”. Health officials say while there were slightly more cases in 2015 than in 2014 and 2013, the trend over the past decade has been declining in the state. The current rate of TB in our state finds that about 3 of every 100,000 Washingtonians develop TB disease, which is about the same as the national average; however, some communities have rates significantly higher than the national average. MDR-TB is harder to treat and more deadly.
“Multiple Drug Resistant (MDR)TB is a condition that happens if the normal TB is not handled effectively and if patients don’t take treatment on time and it is so unfortunate that the treatment is longer than that of the normal TB and the patient will just have to take treatment for over 20 months and 8 months daily injections”.
Globally, 9.6 million people fell ill with TB, of which 1 million children, and 1.5 million succumbed to the disease (2014). During anti-TB treatment, mother can also breastfeed her child. TB kills more people around the world each year than any other contagious disease.
Civil society was able to focus a great deal of national and worldwide media attention and pressure on the high cost of antiretovirals and lack of access due to patents. This pressure led to the production of generic drugs in India, which saved tens of millions of lives. However, victories on certain medicines did not translate across the board.
Other countries are partnering with researchers to speed development of diagnostic tests, drugs and vaccines, and to improve delivery. A group of 60 economists identified TB as one of the best buys with a return of $43 for each dollar invested in TB diagnosis and treatment. Further research and development will be needed to expand if the world is to win the battle against TB.
Dr Ganda called for collective efforts to put the disease under control, adding that over the years the death rate has been reduced by 75% and infection rate by 80%.
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On Thursday, the world will mark 134 years since Robert Koch’s discovery. Under the Bank-funded East Africa Public Health Laboratory Networking Project (EAPHLNP) the Ndanda Hospital is among the facilities that benefitted from the roll out of the GeneXpert machine, which is able to accurately diagnose drug resistant TB in hours rather than waiting months for culture results, saving time and money.
