|
|
|
TB cases and deaths linked to HIV at alarming levels in Africa
WHO
2005-03-29
Rising rates contrast sharply with accelerated progress in other regions
In most areas of the world, the battle against tuberculosis
is being successfully fought, but in Africa the disease has
reached alarming proportions with a growing number of TB cases
and deaths linked to HIV, the World Health Organization (WHO)
said in a new report released today.
The Global Tuberculosis Control report for 2005
finds that global TB prevalence has declined by more than 20%
since 1990 and that incidence rates are now falling or stable
in five of the six regions of the world. The glaring exception
is Africa, where TB incidence rates have tripled since 1990 in
countries with high HIV prevalence and are still rising across
the continent at a rate of 3-4% annually. Even Uganda, an
African HIV reduction success story, is today curing fewer TB
patients than it did four years ago. More than half of all
people with TB in Uganda remain without access to life-saving
DOTS1 services due to strained general health
facilities. "Evidence in this report provides real
optimism that TB is beatable, but it is also a clear
warning," said WHO Director-General Dr LEE Jong-wook.
"As Nelson Mandela has said, we can't fight AIDS unless
we do much more to fight TB, and it is time to match his words
with urgent action in Africa on the two epidemics
together." There has been major progress in China and
India, which account for one third of the global TB burden.
Both are leading the accelerated response to TB control by
rapidly scaling up DOTS. As a result, the number of cases
treated under DOTS worldwide rose 8% in 2003 compared to the
previous year. Other countries such as Indonesia and the
Philippines are showing similar progress.
Assuming strong commitment and resources are sustained,
four regions - the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, South East
Asia and Western Pacific - are on track to reach the United
Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing TB incidence
by 2015. The two exceptions are Africa due to the TB/HIV
co-epidemic, and Europe where there are high levels of
multidrug-resistant TB and slow advances in DOTS in countries
of the former Soviet Union. "Dedicated frontline health
workers are making a difference, reaching out to the most
vulnerable," said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of WHO's
Stop TB Department. "But we need to push even further, to
work with new partners in both public and private health
sectors, and in all regions, to reach more than half of all
patients that are still without access to DOTS
treatments."
Since 1995, over 17 million people with TB have benefited
from effective treatment under DOTS. But more could be
achieved within countries, and in research into new
diagnostics, drugs and vaccines, if the annual US 1 billion
funding gap for TB control was filled. The urgency of
addressing TB has been highlighted in the UK-led Commission
for Africa, which linked improved TB control to strengthened
health systems, as well as calling for full funding of WHO's
'Two Diseases, One Patient' strategy for improved TB and HIV
intervention. "It is a remarkable achievement that we are
on target to reach the goal of halving TB cases by 2015 in
most places," said the UK's International Development
Secretary, Hilary Benn. "The Department for International
Development is a strong supporter of TB programmes in some of
the countries which have been making the fastest progress.
However, as both the Global TB Control report and the
Commission for Africa report stress, the destructive link
between TB and AIDS in Africa is causing an increase in cases.
I call on the international community to step up efforts to
tackle both of these diseases together."
1DOTS is the internationally recommended
strategy for controlling TB, consisting of five elements:
- Government commitment to TB control
- Diagnosis through bacteriology and an effective lab
network
- Standardized short-course chemotherapy with full patient
support throughout treatment
- Uninterrupted supply of quality-assured drugs
- Recording and reporting to measure patient and programme
outcomes
World TB Day on March 24th is a Stop TB Partnership
initiative aimed at raising TB awareness internationally. WHO
is one of 325 members of the Stop TB Partnership committed to
controlling and ultimately eliminating TB as a public health
problem. Since the Partnership's formation in 2001 the number
of patients detected for TB has increased by two thirds.
(Source: WHO, March 24, 2005)
|
HIV prevalence (%) (antenatal)
(2004-10-04)
South African TB Conference 2010
(2010-06-01)
MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
The Southern African Development Community Project on Sexually Transmitted Infections in High Transmission Areas
(2005-09-21)
News
