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Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service) (To mark International Women's Day 2017, CNS presents an exclusive story of courage and inspirtion, based upon an interview with TB survivor and activist Prabha Mahesh)  "I can never forget that day. It is etched in my mind forever. I came back from the laboratory, totally devastated and in tears. I had never ever thought even in the wildest of my dreams that a person like me could contract TB. But that was what my reports confirmed. I was so distraught that I asked my younger sister to promise to take care of my then 1 year old baby daughter in case I died (which I thought I would)", reminisced Prabha Mahesh , while narrating her traumatic brush with a disease that globally infects more than 10.4 million people and kills 1.8 million of them in a year. Prabha, who holds a Masters degree in Psychiatry and Social Work, was working as a superintendent in a government home for mentally challenged children in Mumbai when she was di...

[ Listen or download the audio podcast ] [ Watch the video interview ] Having invested over 30 years in fight against TB, Dr KK Chopra who is the present Director of New Delhi TB Centre in India's capital, shares key insights on how to accelerate the battle to #endTB by 2030. Reflecting on the past decades, he shares key game-changing pivots that propelled the fight against TB and some things that could have done better. [ Listen or download the audio podcast ] [ Watch the video interview ]

[ Listen or download this audio podcast ] This is the recording of a special webinar in lead up to World TB Day 2017 where experts shared experiences on the role of faith in the fight against TB, and explored opportunities of how faith can help to expedite efforts to #endTB by 2030. [ Listen or download this audio podcast ]

[ Listen or download this podcast ] Catherine Mwauyakufa is an award-winning journalist and CNS Correspondent from Zimbabwe as well. She is among CNS Fellow awardees too. She shared her personal experience of role of faith in caring for the HIV affected communities and cautions against blind faith while acknowledging the pivotal role faith can play in "road to recovery" as well. Listen to her experience here (or download the podcast ). This audio podcast was broadcasted on a webinar on 28th February 2017 on "Does faith help in fighting TB? " [ Listen or download this podcast ]

[ Watch webinar recording ] [ Listen or download audio podcast ] Be welcome to register for this exclusive webinar in lead up to World TB Day 2017 where experts will share experiences on the role of faith in the fight against TB , and explore opportunities of how faith can help to expedite efforts to #endTB by 2030. Watch recording | Listen/ download audio podcast Experts including those from the Desmond Tutu TB Centre in South Africa and International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union) will present and respond to questions live! DATE: Tuesday, 28th February 2017 TIME: 1:00pm Geneva Time (check www.timeanddate.com for your local time) Watch recording | Listen/ download audio podcast Panel of experts [ Watch 4:50 - 17:30 of webinar recording ] Jody Boffa , community-based researcher and epidemiologist at the Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa and Vanier Doctoral Research Scholar at the Department of Community Health Sciences, Universi...

[ Listen or dowload this audio podcast ] Dr Chitra Chandrashekar, recipient of prestigious Professor OA Sarma Oration Award 2016 spoke with Shobha Shukla, Managing Editor of CNS (Citizen News Service).  She shared her study findings that got her the coveted recognition. Preventing TB from spreading any further is indeed a compelling public health imperative. TB hotspots cannot be on blindspots. [ Listen or dowload this audio podcast ] [ Watch video ]

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service) Shobha Shukla, CNS (L), Dr Chitra Chandrashekar (R) [ audio podcast ] [ video ] So said award-winning Dr Chitra Chandrashekar , Director of  Dr Iravatham’s Clinical Laboratory, Hyderabad. I met her in Mumbai during NAPCON 2016 and was struck by her modesty and her passion for working in the field of TB. Chitra spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service) about her study titled 'Host susceptibility to Mycobacteria and Transmission dynamics' , related to the transmission dynamics of TB, which won her the prestigious Professor OA Sarma Oration Award at NAPCON 2016. Listen or download this audio podcast   Watch this video interview Here is what Dr Chitra Chandrashekar shared: “ It is important to know why TB transmission continues unabated in high burden countries like India, despite there being tools to control it. My study investigated TB transmission dynamics and associated risk factors in the micro environment of urban slums, which are ...

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 ...

[ Click here to listen or download the podcast ] This webinar for media was held on 30th November 2016 featuring experts from the AIDS Society of India; People's Health Organisation; and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union); who shared why TB and HIV collaborative activities are so critically important to help the world end TB and AIDS both by 2030. [ Click here to listen or download the podcast ]

Shobha Shukla, CNS ( Citizen News Service) [ Watch this video interview ] [ Listen or download the audio podcast ] Mahatma Gandhi had once said, "If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning". Gandhi's thought resurfaced after listening to Dr Ishwar Gilada , President of AIDS Society of India (ASI). He could not have been more sincere in demanding action to the fullest to #end AIDS by 2030 as promised by our governments. Fragmented actions in silos and scattered across sectors are just not enough to build up the pace on the ground to help governments keep this promise to #endAIDS. At the 2015 UN General Assembly, our governments had committed to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr Ishwar Gilada spoke with CNS (Citizen News Service) at the sidelines of the 9th National Conference of AIDS Society of India (ASICON 2016). This interview is p...

Shobha Shukla, CNS (Citizen News Service) Alarming rates of pulmonary diseases in India are warranting urgent action as well as well-coordinated and inter-sectoral comprehensive health responses across the country to ensure every citizen enjoys lung health. "Recent smog in parts of north-central India had worsened the air quality in a dangerous manner sending lives of people in jitters and leaving behind disproportionately high economic impact. Emergency public health measures must be in place because healthy lungs are an indispensable need if we want a healthy country" said Director Professor (Dr) KC Mohanty , Organizing Chairman of 18th Joint National Conference on Pulmonary Diseases (NAPCON 2016) in Mumbai, India. NAPCON 2016 is organized by India’s two eminent professional associations: National College of Chest Physicians (India) and Indian Chest Society, and has scientific or educational collaboration with the Tuberculosis Association of India, Environmental Medic...

[ Watch webinar recording ] [ Listen or download the audio podcast ] In lead up to World AIDS Day 2016 let us recollect governments' promise to end AIDS and TB by 2030. But TB continues to be a lead killer for people living with HIV. What more needs to happen to meet SDGs by 2030? [ Watch webinar recording ] | [ Listen or download the audio podcast ] Date: Wednesday, 30th November 2016 Time: 1pm - 2pm Geneva time (To convert to different time zones, click here or go to www.timeanddate.com/worldclock ) The WHO Global TB Report 2016 shows increase (not decrease) in TB cases and TB deaths. Rate of TB decline is majorly falling short to end TB by 2030. TB continues to be a lead cause of death for people living with HIV. TB being curable and preventable, this is unacceptable ! 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health had key messages around TB HIV. Learn more from experts in this webinar. Unless TB and HIV affected communities are central to health responses, we will fail to meet ...

Dr Jonathan Cranston , a veterinary surgeon since past 10 years with mixed animal practice across the United Kingdom shared his personal lived experience with tuberculosis: not human TB but bovine TB. [ Listen or download this audio podcast here ]. He was in conversation with CNS Managing Editor Shobha Shukla on the sidelines of 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool, UK. [ Click here to download or listen to this podcast ]

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS [ Listen or download the podcast ] Despite commitment from the governments to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030 (one of the targets of Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs) the pace of TB decline casts serious doubts on eliminating TB in the next 14 years. [ Click here to listen or download this podcast ] The latest Global TB Report of the World Health Organization (WHO) has set the alarm bells ringing: not only have annual TB cases and TB deaths increased compared to previous year, but also the pace of TB decline is not steep enough so as to reach the finishing line in the fight against TB by 2030. ‘Business as usual’ will not work. With this intent we spoke to one of the key people in the global fight against TB, who shared important lessons from the past 25 years and suggestions on how we can accelerate the pace of TB decline so as to meet the goals within promised timelines. Dr Mario Raviglione had contributed to the development of the DOT...

Shobha Shukla, Citizen News Service - CNS Dr Jonathan Cranston, UK [ Listen or download this podcast ] Have you ever heard of animals transmitting TB to humans? I am sure many of us have not. And yet in 2015 there were an estimated 149,000 such new human cases of zoonotic (bovine) TB globally and 13,400 deaths. Unlike conventional TB, which is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), zoonotic TB in humans is caused by the bacterial strain Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) which belongs to the M. tuberculosis complex. M. bovis causes bovine TB in cattle and zoonotic TB in people. At the 47th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Liverpool , I met a 35 year old veterinary doctor Jonathan Cranston from UK, who is a survivor of zoonotic TB. [ Listen or download this podcast ] Dr Cranston graduated from Royal Veterinary College, London in 2006, and for the last 4 years he has worked at a mixed practice in Cheltenham doing a mixture of farm, equine and small animal work. Here...