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With a week left for inter-governmental meeting of global tobacco treaty (formally called World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control or WHO FCTC), more than 120 civil society organisations from India and several other nations globally have endorsed a letter calling upon the governments (that are Parties to the WHO FCTC) to act against the tobacco industry interference in FCTC. We are reproducing this letter below: “ Dated: 1st November 2016 To The Parties to the WHO FCTC Cc: Dr. Vera Luiza Da Costa e Silva, Framework Convention Secretariat JP Nadda, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India Amal Pusp, Director of National Tobacco Control Programme Dear Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC): As civil society organizations concerned with public health, we write to express our concern over tobacco industry interference in the meetings of the WHO FCTC and its subsidiary bodies. In advance o

Alice Sagwidza-Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) are global challenges. Treatment of both requires prolonged and toxic therapies. Centralised inpatient treatment, delivered by specialist doctors and nurses in a specialised hospital, is still a common practice in many MDR-TB high-burden countries. But the lack of hospitals, long waiting lists for admissions, and high hospitalisation costs present challenges. Decentralised care on the other hand is located in the local community in which the patient resides - community health centres, clinics, religious and other community venues, patient’s home or workplace— and may include a brief period of initial hospitalization. It is delivered mainly by trained volunteers, community nurses or non-specialised doctors. So, is decentralized treatment and care for MDR-TB patients to be preferred over the centralised one in terms of leading to improved treatment success rate, b

Alice Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland Eleanor Frame …So said Eleanor Frame, an 18 year old teenager from UK, who survived TB. Eleanor shared her story at the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool. She said that she had no idea about what TB was, and nether did her classmates, until she herself was diagnosed with it at the age of 14. And that lack of knowledge bred fear in her and discrimination from her friends who isolated her and also resulted in the delays in her diagnosis by her medical doctor. “It was dismissed as just a chuckle, a bad chest infection, not once but twice by my doctor, until my mother insisted on the test”, she said. “I sent my teacher an email to tell her that I was sick with TB and will not be in school for a while. She posted it on the school’s year board, and in a split second my whole class knew about my condition.” While speaking with CNS (Citizen News Service), Eleanor recalled vividly that on the day she was diagnosed with TB,  s

Henry Neondo, CNS Correspondent, Kenya A group of international cancer organizations today launched a new initiative to encourage governments to increase taxes on tobacco. Tobacco causes 20 percent of all cancer deaths and more than 4,000 people die from tobacco-related cancer each day. The initiative aims to build a global coalition of cancer organizations, all working individually and collectively to campaign for high tobacco taxes that are proven to reduce tobacco use. Emphasizing the global, collective nature of the coalition, cancer organizations are being invited to sign up and cast their vote to name the campaign at NameTheFuture.org. This new initiative aims to increase understanding within the global cancer community of the power of tobacco taxation as an effective measure for reducing tobacco use and preventing cancer and other chronic disease. In addition, high tobacco taxes have the potential to generate millions annually in sustainable government revenue that can be rein

Dr Mario Raviglione , Director of the Global Tuberculosis Programme at the World Health Organization (WHO) was in conversation with CNS Managing Editor Shobha Shukla at the sidelines of 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool, UK. This interview is part of CNS Inspire series. [ To listen or download the podcast, click here ]

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis. As per WHO’s Global TB Report 2016 , 480,000 people fell ill with MDR-TB in 2015, with 3 countries - India, China, and Russia - carrying the major burden and together accounting for nearly half of all MDR-TB cases globally. Detection and treatment gaps continue to plague the MDR-TB response. In 2015, only 1 out of every 5 people needing treatment for MDR-TB were able to access it and only 52% of those who started MDR-TB treatment were cured . Dr Mel Spigelman, TB Alliance “These sobering statistics remind us of our urgency to continue the fight to develop better, faster and affordable treatments that will finally bring this pandemic under control,” said Dr Mel Spigelman , CEO of TB Alliance , which is working to advance several promising regimens to tackle all forms of TB. The current MDR-TB regimen lasts for 2 years or more. It includes medicines and injectables that are not only

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS The first press meet at the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health , being currently held in Liverpool, saw the Ministers of Health from Philippines, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe reflect on the successes and challenges of responding to the global epidemic of TB, tobacco related diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Jose Luis Castro, Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) set the ball rolling by saying that although the latest estimates of the global TB burden were very disturbing (10.4 million new TB cases and 1.8 million TB deaths in 2015), all is not lost. There is still hope to reverse the tide as we know what is to be done - business cannot be as usual . WHO's endorsement of the 9-month short regimen for MDR-TB treatment is one such positive step in the direction of meeting the global goal of ending TB by 2030. Countries will now have to start the process for its roll-ou

Alice Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland Final results of a potentially game-changing study on a nine-months treatment regimen for multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) were announced at the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool, UK. This study  carried out in nine Francophone countries has shown a treatment success rate of 82% with limited adverse side effects - a significant stride towards stopping TB. The study was conducted in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Cote d’Ivore, Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger and Rwanda. This novel treatment regimen for MDR-TB is a great improvement over the current 24 months (or more) long treatment, which has a treatment success rate of 52%. These encouraging results assume greater significance in the light of the fact that MDR-TB remains a public health crisis. WHO estimates that 580,000 people became sick with TB resistant to at least rifampicin in 2015, of whom 480,000 were diagnosed as having deve

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS Community focus was the overriding theme at the Annual TB Alliance Stakeholders Association Meeting held in Liverpool, just ahead of the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health . Community representatives, Maurine Murenga and Sarah Mulera , shared their experiences from the ground, regarding the powerful, yet under utilised, role which affected and key populations can play to turn the tide against TB. Maurine , who is living with HIV, lost her father to TB in 1999 due to drug stock outs, resulting in treatment interruption. She called stigma the mother of TB and human rights violations the grandmother of TB. She cited the general mistrust that exists between the community and researchers. Traditionally the community is not involved actively in the designing of research studies. And when sometimes these studies run into problems—they might take a long time to complete or cost too much money—the community participants are suddenly left in th

Shobha Shukla - CNS (Citizen News Service) [ Watch this video interview ] [ Listen or download this audio podcast ] "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies" are the immortal words of Saint Mother Teresa, which sum up what Dr Kuldeep Singh Sachdeva asserts to hasten the pace of progress for a disease-free India. Dr KS Sachdeva has healed thousands of patients in a tertiary level hospital in India’s capital Delhi, has served an illustrious inning at India's national tuberculosis programme and is  now serving as Deputy Director General at the national AIDS programme in India. [ Watch this video interview ] | [ Listen or download this audio podcast ] He spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service) at the sidelines of the 9th National Conference of AIDS Society of India (ASICON 2016). This interview is part of CNS Inspire series – featuring people who have decades of experience in health and development, and learning from them what went well and