The [b]World Health Organisation (WHO)[/b] has launched an ambitious plan for rich countries to sharply reduce tuberculosis (TB) infections and serve as a model for harder-hit countries of [b]Africa and Asia[/b], where the disease still thrives, reports [s]Reuters Health[/s]. Although the 33 targeted countries, 21 of them in [b]Europe[/b], have relatively low rates of infection, the disease still kills 10,000 people a year there – predominantly homeless people, migrants, prisoners, drug users, heavy drinkers or people with HIV/Aids – the WHO said. It is in these communities that industrialised countries including the [b]US[/b] could pilot approaches to a disease that is both preventable and curable that could then be transferred to poorer countries, Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the [b]WHO’s Global TB Programme[/b], said. The WHO strategy involves broader screening for both active and latent TB infections in high-risk groups, funding high-quality health services, and investing in new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests.
International financing mechanism, [b]The Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria[/b] has awarded SA funding to address high levels of tuberculosis (TB) in its prisons. [s]Health-e[/s] reports that the money is set to flow through organisations including [b]Aurum[/b], the [b]Right to Care[/b] and the [b]National Department of Health[/b]. The report also notes additional US funding to address the issue.
[link url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/03/us-health-tuberculosis-idUSKBN0F816Q20140703]Full Reuters Health report[/link]
[link url=http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/tb-elimination/en]WHO press release[/link]
[link url=http://www.health-e.org.za/2014/07/03/report-global-fund-targets-south-african-prisons]Full Health-e report[/link]
[link url=http://www.health-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Aurum-CDC-TB-in-Prisons.pdf]Johns Hopkins/ Aurum poster[/link]
[link url=http://www.stoptb.org/wg/gli/assets/documents/Xpert%20Implementers%20Global%20Forum%20meeting%20report.pdf]WHO document[/link]