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Josephine Chinele, CNS Correspondent, Malawi Over 50% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Malawi develop TB at some point of time and 7% of TB patients die whilst on treatment. International Union against TB and Lung Disease Press Statement titled TB 2016 and AIDS 2016: Jointly Tackling the Co-epidemic released in July this year says that these diseases together make up a co-epidemic, posing unique challenges to individuals and communities that bear the burden of both diseases at the same time. This is deeply entangling, particularly in sub-Saharan African countries like Malawi, as TB has become the leading cause of death among those who are HIV-positive, despite the fact that today HIV infection can be managed with antiretroviral therapy (ART), and TB can be cured in the vast majority of cases. When a person develops HIV, the immune system loses its ability to fight off infections, making him/her more vulnerable to developing other diseases like TB. PLHIV are especially vulnerable t...

Francis Okoye, CNS Correspondent, Nigeria Medical and historical evidence now abound, showing that the world cannot fight AIDS by ignoring TB. In 2015, the world recorded 10.4 million new TB cases of which people living with HIV (PLHIV) accounted for 1.2 million (11%) cases. There were an estimated 1.4 million TB deaths, with 400,000 deaths resulting from TB disease among PLHIV. The risk of developing TB is 26-31 times greater in PLHIV. Nearly 75% of PLHIV who contract TB live in sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries in this region, up to 80% of individuals with active TB disease are also HIV-positive. TB-HIV co-infection increasingly poses a risk to people living in other regions as well. Around 30% of all people who become sick with TB live in Asia, where TB accounts for 40% of AIDS related deaths. Eastern Europe too has the fastest-growing HIV epidemic globally, making this region vulnerable to increasing TB-HIV co-infection as well. In a webinar organized for the media by Citize...

Alice Sagwidza-Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland Leafing through my birthday good wishes from friends, family and foes, on my Facebook, WhatsApp, Tweet, Instagram, Skype and other social media accounts, I realised hundreds of postings were well designed cards, songs, articles about the World AIDS Day commemoration. Companies, churches, schools, governments, non-state actors, groups, individual of every creed, race and religion were gathering and posting pictures and speeches remembering their loved ones lost to HIV/AIDS, those living with HIV and those caring for the sick. It reminded me that some couple of decades ago the 1st of December would have been a very different day for me, characterised by a birthday cake, friends and family gathered, lots of fried chicken, non-stop telephone calls with well wishes. Well there was no Facebook then. But today my birthday wishes are juxtaposed with grim reminders of the devastation caused by the deadly HIV. According to the WHO, in 2015 th...

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS Both TB and HIV pose serious health risks. But when these two infections join together, the result is a potentially lethal co-epidemic of TB-HIV. Their coexistence is similar to opposites attracting each other despite glaring differences like two unlike poles of a magnet. They are two linked epidemics that must be fought together, in order to make significant progress in ending both.  The facts are alarming. People living with HIV (PLHIV) are 26 times more likely to develop TB than those without HIV infection and TB is the predominant cause of death for PLHIV, responsible in 2015 for 1 in 3of these deaths. In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide, 1.2 million (11%) being in PLHIV. Also of the estimated 1.4 million TB deaths in 2015, 400,000 deaths were among PLHIV. 40-80% of HIV infected people with TB have extra pulmonary disease, compared with 10-20% of people without HIV. PLHIV also face increased threat of ...

Dr Diana Wangari, CNS Special Correspondent, Kenya Jacqueline Wambui On the frontlines of advocating for people living with HIV and AIDS in Kenya is Jacqueline Wambui . Gambol is an activist working with the National Empowerment Network of People living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) in Kenya and is an AVAC fellow. She shares with CNS special correspondent, Dr Diana Wangari, her personal experience of dealing with HIV. “I am HIV positive and it took me six months to find that out.” This is the beginning of Jacqueline Wambui’s story who tested positive in 2004. “It started off as what one might refer to as the constant cold—I always seemed to have a cold, or at least similar symptoms. My friends would often ask me ‘How is it that you are always unwell’. Then I started experiencing fever and chills and concluded that perhaps it could be malaria. Those days you could get anti-malarials over the counter, whether or not you had done a malaria test and I hadn’t. It was the peak period of ‘and h...

Aarti Dhar, CNS Correspondent, India (First published in theindiasaga.com) Tuberculosis (TB) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pose a serious health risk. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) , the risk of developing TB is estimated to be between 26 and 31 times greater in people living with HIV (PLHIV). In 2015, there were an estimated 10.4 million new TB cases worldwide, of which PHLIV accounted for 1.2 million (11%) cases. TB caused 400,000 deaths among the PLHIV of the 1.4 million who died of TB in the same year. The TB-HIV co-infection is potentially lethal combination. When a person develops HIV, his/her immune system loses its ability to fight off infections, making him/her more vulnerable to other infections like TB. PLHIV are especially vulnerable to TB in countries where TB is common. Roughly, 75% of PLHIV who contract TB live in sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries of this region, up to 80% of individuals with active TB disease are also HIV-positive. TB-HIV...

Alice Tembe, CNS Correspondent, Swaziland In September 2015 at the United Nations General Assembly, the global leadership marked the historic adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, which replaced the Millennium Development Goals. The 3rd Goal within these 17 SDGs specifically targets the global epidemics of HIV-AIDS, TB, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and commits to end these epidemics by the year 2030. It has been a year since this commitment and there have been notable successes. However, it is still a few years to 2030 and there is still work to be done. HIV & AIDS Indications On the 4th of April 2016, the Executive Director of the Swaziland Emergency Response Council (NERCHA), Mr. Khanya Mabuza noted in an interview with the Times of Swaziland that the HIV infections are down by 50% in Swaziland. This news came with very encouraging statistics, including that while the country once recorded 14,000 AIDS related deaths per year, this figure has now d...