Bacterial diseases

Stop TB

Link: 
http://www.stoptb.org/
The web site of the STOP TB Initiative - a global partnership for global action to stop TB. Extensive set of information on programmes, news, latest updates, events, activities, liniks, facts, treatment, impact.

An assessment of current support strategies for patients with TB in KwaZulu-Natal

Health Systems Trust (HST) has just released its latest publication entitled, An assessment of current support strategies for patients with TB in KwaZulu-Natal. The study probed the level of need for material assistance experienced by patients, and the impact of such assistance's provision.

An Assessment of Current Support Strategies for Patients with TB in KwaZulu-Natal

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust

Poverty has long been recognized as one of the factors predisposing people to TB (Lancet 2005) and, in South Africa, many patients with TB live in poor conditions. In order to ameliorate these conditions, a few initiatives to support patients with TB have been made in KwaZulu-Natal. To date, support for TB patients has been provided in the form of free treatment at government hospitals and clinics (Department of Health 2001), and nutritional supplementation and social grants (Department of Social Development 2006)1.

Patient Experiences In Antiretroviral Therapy Programmes In Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Published by: 
Health Systems Trust

This report presents the methods and findings of a qualitative study of the experiences of patients taking medication for HIV infection as part of an antiretroviral therapy (ART) programme in five sites in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. The study, known as the ADHERE Project, was designed by MEASURE Evaluation and implemented in collaboration with Health Systems Trust to provide information to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health for use in expanding and improving their ART services.

Clinical Manager

Closing date: 14 August 2009

TB/HIV Care Associations Project Integrate seeks applicants for a Clinical Manager based in the head office in Cape Town. This is a one year contract post with the possibility of renewal. Project Integrate is funded by the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Meningitis claims 2 500

Meningitis has killed more than 2 500 people this year in West and Central Africa in what could become the worst epidemic for five years, UNICEF said. Meningitis is an infection of the thin lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Infection rates in Africa rise during the dry and hot period from January to May and the meningitis belt stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia is especially prone. UNICEF said in a statement that in the year to April 5, 2 519 people had died of meningitis in Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad, out of a total of 47 310 cases.

Cross-border health crisis hits mineworkers

Two years ago Mopeli Mofoka, 39, left his wife and child in Maseru, Lesotho's capital, and joined the more than 50,000 men pushed by poverty and unemployment in their home country to seek work on mines in neighbouring South Africa. It was his second stint as a miner the first had been 15 years earlier. This time he was hired as a sub-contractor, which meant that despite testing positive for HIV during his preliminary health screening he did not have access to the on-site health services available to mine employees. When his health began deteriorating 18 months later, he went to a local public hospital but was turned away because he lacked a South African identity document. His only option was to return home, where he is receiving treatment for tuberculosis (TB) at a government clinic run in partnership with international medical aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontires (MSF) in Morija, about 50km south of Maseru, the capital.

TB breakthrough a challenge to government

South African researchers have shown that deaths among people co-infected with HIV and TB could be more than halved by starting antiretroviral therapy earlier, adding further pressure on government to improve treatment for both diseases. If the government adapts its treatment guidelines in line with the findings -- which were so dramatic that the clinical trial was stopped early on ethical grounds -- it will mean starting 150 000 people living with TB on anti-HIV medicine much earlier than has been planned, and budgeted, for. Professor Salim Abdool Karim, who headed the study, said the research indicated that up to 10 000 lives a year could be saved if people with TB were given antiretrovirals at the beginning of the TB treatment if they had a CD4 count of less than 500. Currently the guidelines are for HIV-positive people to start ARVs when their CD4 count drops to 200, or when this is clinically indicated.

Policy on TB remains unchanged, says Health

The Department of Health says its policy on the treatment of Tuberculosis patients, especially those who have Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) and Extreme-Drug Resistant (XDR-TB), will not be changed in any way.