PHA-Exch> Key messages for World TB Day. March 24th 2008

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel at gmail.com>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au

[AIDS ASIA e FORUM] World TB Day is on March 24th and the key slogan
for the day is "I Am Stopping TB".

Addressing TB is one of the key challenges of HIV response. About a
third of the 40 million PLWHA worldwide at the end of 2001 are co-
infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The majority of these co
infected people are in resource constrained countries. TB accounts
for up to a third of AIDS deaths worldwide.

Escalating tuberculosis case rates over the past decade in many
countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of SE Asia (e.g.
northern Thailand) are largely attributable to the HIV epidemic.
Since the mid-1980s, in many African countries, including those with
well-organised programmes, annual tuberculosis case notification
rates have risen up to fourfold. Up to 70% of patients with sputum
smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis are HIV-positive in some
countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Since up to half of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) develop
tuberculosis, and tuberculosis has an adverse effect on HIV
progression, tuberculosis care and prevention should be priority
concerns of HIV/AIDS programmes, and HIV/AIDS prevention and care
should be priority concerns of TB programmes.

I Am Stopping TB is more than slogan. It is the start of a two-year
campaign that belongs to people everywhere who are doing their part
to Stop TB.

This year's World TB Day is about celebrating the lives and stories
of people affected by TB: women, men and children who have taken TB
treatment; nurses; doctors; researchers; community workers--anyone
who has contributed towards the global fight against TB.

You may log on to the following web page for further details.

http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2008/
<http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2008/>

On this site you can download materials that will help you make your
own World TB materials like posters, web postings and video; and plan
World TB Day activities

The following are the key messages for the World TB Day. March 24th,
2008

We are making progress on TB. In 2005 the rate of new cases of TB
worldwide leveled off for the first time since the World Health
Organization began collecting data about the disease. And the rate at
which TB is detected has doubled since 2000.

Everyone can do something to stop TB, and every individual's action
counts. In 2008 we will celebrate the actions of people all over the
world joining forces to stop TB.

Despite recent progress, TB remains a massive global public health
problem, with near¬ly 9 million new cases and more than a million-and-
a-half deaths each year. Greater commitment by governments to
fighting TB in their countries is needed now. So is greater
commitment by donors to finance TB care and research into new drugs,
new diagnostics and new vaccines.

There is now evidence that that countries most heavily affected by TB
can reap on aver¬age a 10-fold return on investments in TB diagnosis
and treatment, on condition that they implement the Stop TB
Partnership's Global Plan to Stop TB. The Plan sets out a roadmap for
confronting the disease over the next eight years. Human suffering
was reason enough to fight TB -- now we know that addressing the
disease can help stop poverty too.

We will never eliminate TB without new and more effective drugs,
diagnostics and vac¬cines. Today's most commonly used TB diagnostic,
sputum microscopy, 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. Today's TB vaccine, which is more than 85 years old,
provides some protection against severe forms of TB in children but
is unreliable against pulmonary TB. Simpler, faster drug regimens
that treat all forms of TB; rapid, more accurate diagnostic tools to
quickly detect TB; and a vaccine that will be effective in preventing
TB in people of all ages are urgently needed.

http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2008/
http://www.stoptb.org/events/world_tb_day/2008/
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