WHO has
issued new guidance to improve 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 counselling 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.
“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
On 22 March, key
partners will come together at a World TB Day symposium at WHO in Geneva to
develop a collaborative multi-stakeholder and multisectoral platform to
accelerate actions to end TB. WHO will present the new package at the meeting.
TB is the world’s
top infectious disease killer, claiming 4 500 lives each day. The heaviest
burden is carried by communities facing socio-economic challenges, those
working and living in high-risk settings, the poorest and marginalized.
Source:Who.in
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