|
Dili:
A greater number of new positive Tuberculosis (TB) cases are being detected
now in Timor-Leste compared to nine years ago. Of
these new cases, about 85% are being successfully treated. Timor Leste’s TB burden was first recorded in 1995 and
averaged 707 cases per 100,000 of its population. Today it stands at 378
cases per 100,000 of its population. “Timor-Leste
is on track to meeting the MDG goal of halving the number of TB cases in
the country by 2015. The firm and dedicated support from both our national
and international partners have been significant in the control of TB in
Timor-Leste” said Dr Martins at the launch of the
country's Stop TB Strategy for 2011-2015. More…
[PDF 136 KB]
|
|
Geneva - 10 November
2010 - The
Stop TB Partnership anticipates a temporary shortage of quality-assured
Streptomycin. This shortage, which is also affecting other suppliers, is
related to quality issues of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API)
source used by one of the main Streptomycin suppliers of the Partnership's
Global Drug Facility (GDF). Additionally, as major donors and technical
agencies have adopted more stringent quality assurance policies, GDF is not
in the short-term able to secure sufficient quantities of Streptomycin that
meet the new stringent criteria.
More…
|
|
BERLIN, Germany — Nov. 8, 2010 In advance of the 41st Union World Conference, the Global
Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) today announced the launch
of the first clinical trial to test a novel tuberculosis regimen in a new
development paradigm designed to speed new treatments to patients. This
novel three-drug combination shows promise to treat both drug-sensitive
(DS-TB) and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), and
alter the course of the TB pandemic by shortening and simplifying treatment
worldwide.
More…
|
|
In
1996, Nepal became the first country in the South Asia region to adopt the
DOTS strategy - directly observed treatment, short-course - which among
other things means a country must set up a strict daily system of
recordkeeping that proves a patient takes medicine every day for six months
or more. This course requires a health worker to observe a patient swallow
the pills.
Nepal foundered at first. Six months
after it started DOTS, a visiting team of experts reviewed its efforts and
basically said it had achieved almost nothing. That inspired a massive
effort in one of the poorest countries in the world, and one with some of
the most challenging topography - not just the white-capped Himalayas, but also the back hills that were dotted
with villages more than a day's walk from a road. The program also had to
navigate around a 10-year Maoist insurgency that claimed more than 13,000
lives.
But Nepal
did it - through a cadre of leaders and with WHO's
guidance. By 2001, it had expanded DOTS across the nation, and today it
treats TB in more than 4,000 health facilities - down to tiny health posts
in the high mountains. Cure rates are at a remarkable 90 percent, and the
country estimates that it is detecting 75 percent of the cases.
"Stopping
TB has been a top priority for the government,'' said Dr. Kashi Kant Jha, director of the National TB Centre, who
has worked in TB for more than two decades. "It's
been a great challenge, and we've made lots of progress. Still, though, we
have much more to do.''
More…
|
