World TB Day: WHO renews recommendation to accelerate Tuberculosis abolition

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    Today, the world is observing tuberculosis day. Ahead of the day the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new guidance to improve the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). WHO is recommending shifting to fully oral regimens to treat people with MDR-TB.

    This new treatment course is more effective and is less likely to provoke adverse side effects. WHO recommends backing up treatment with active monitoring of drug safety and providing counseling support to help patients complete their course of treatment.

    The recommendations are part of a larger package of actions designed to help countries increase the pace of progress to end tuberculosis (TB) and released in advance of World TB Day.

    Read more: अंतरराष्ट्रीय महिला दिवस 2019 से एक दिन पहले विवाहिता को डायन बता, दौड़ा-दौड़ाकर पीटा

    This year’s theme for World TB Day

    The theme of this year’s World TB Day is: It’s time to end TB,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “We’re highlighting the urgent need to translate commitments made at the 2018 UN High-Level Meeting on TB into actions that ensure everyone who needs TB care can get it.”

    Since 2000, 54 million lives have been saved, and TB deaths fell by one-third.  But 10 million people still fall ill with TB each year, with too many missing out on vital care.

    The WHO package is designed to help countries close gaps in care ensuring no one is left behind. Key elements include:

    • An accountability framework to coordinate actions across sectors and to monitor and review progress
    • A dashboard to help countries know more about their own epidemics through real-time monitoring – by moving to electronic TB surveillance systems.
    • A guide for effective prioritization of planning and implementation of impactful TB interventions based on analyses of patient pathways in accessing care.
    • New WHO guidelines on infection control and preventive treatment for latent TB infection
    • A civil society task force to ensure effective and meaningful civil society engagement

    “This is a set of pragmatic actions that countries can use to accelerate progress and act on the high-level commitments made in the first-ever UN High-Level Meeting on TB last September,” said Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director WHO’s Global TB Programme.

     

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