A case for TBians on TB day

via mint e-paper:


Nearly 4 lakh Directly Observed Treatment System (DOTS) providers, 2,000 NGOs, 10,000 private practitioners, 11,000 peripheral laboratories, over 200 medical colleges and more than 100 corporate health facilities.India is implementing the largest TB control programme in the world, which provides treatment for an additional 100,000 patients every month, with a treatment success rate of 86 per cent. India has prevented more than a million deaths since the DOTS was started in India in 1997. But still TB is the biggest public health challenge India faces.

The disease continues to affect about 1.8 million new people every year. Two of every five Indians are infected with the TB bacillus. Of them, 10 per cent will develop TB disease during their lifetime.

The biggest threat is the rise of strains of the disease that do not respond to standard drug treatment--multi-drug resistance (MDR) and extreme drug resistance (EDR) TB. The MDR and EDR patients can infect 10-15 persons. While treating a general patient costs about Rs 400-600, MDR TB treatment costs upto Rs 1 lakh. But in any case it is curable.

The government is planning to provide free treatment to drug-resistant tuberclosis in government hospitals now. The project will first be started in Gujarat and Maharashtra where all those who are affected by the disease will be enrolled.

A Stigma!

While TB's effect on health has solution and the efforts to control it are yielding result, the social problems it creates are making the situation complex. Though, a completely curable disease there is a strong stigma attached to it which women face the most of the time. Studies have projected that over 300,000 children are orphaned by the disease every year while over a 100,000 women are rejected by their families, once they contract TB.

The other side!

Another major difficulty with this disease is the lack of research and new drugs in this area. Bill Gates, whose foundation has donated millions of dollars in the fight against TB world over, recently said: "We will only be able to eliminate TB with new and more effective drugs, diagnostics and vaccines. The most commonly used TB diagnostic is more than 100 years old and lacks sensitivity. Today's TB drugs are more than 40 years old and must be taken for six to nine months. The TB vaccine, which is more than 85 years old, provides some protection. Thankfully, several new drugs against TB are in advanced trials and should be available soon."