The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is calling on countries in the Americas to step up efforts to detect and treat people with tuberculosis (TB), to bring the epidemic to an end in the region by 2030.
According to a PAHO/WHO press release issued yesterday, statistics released for 2013 reveal that more than 285,000 people in the region fell ill with TB and 17,000 died. In addition, nearly 31,800 people with HIV developed TB.
PAHO/WHO said in the release to observe World Tuberculosis Day today that although the countries of the Americas have made significant progress in reducing the burden of TB, along with HIV/AIDS, TB continues to be one of the region’s leading infectious causes of death.
The burden of TB varies across countries of the Americas, the release said, but the epidemic is concentrated in vulnerable populations in large cities, especially in marginal neighbourhoods with overcrowded living conditions, poor water and sanitation services, and limited access to health care.
Between 1990 and 2013, deaths from TB declined 63% in the Americas, thanks largely to the implementation of PAHO/WHO’s “Stop TB” strategy, which is based on directly observed therapy – short course (DOTS), measures to address multiresistant TB and coinfections of TB and HIV, and involving all healthcare providers and communities in implementing the strategy, it noted.
Despite that progress, the region continues to face challenges including an estimated 65,000 undiagnosed TB cases, the spread of multiresistant TB, the appearance of extensively resistant TB, and the development of TB in people with HIV. In 2013, TB incidence in the region was 29 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. “Ending TB”—that is, eliminating it as a public health problem—would require reducing TB incidence to below 10 cases per 100,000, the release said.
PAHO/WHO Advisor on TB Dr Mirtha del Granado was quoted as saying, “Ending the tuberculosis epidemic will require bold policies and supportive health systems in the context of universal health coverage, to ensure that no one lacks access to early diagnosis or the treatment they need. Only this way will we be able to put an end to TB.”
Meanwhile, WHO’s “End TB” strategy, approved by WHO member governments during the World Health Assembly last year, centres on three action areas: patient-centred care, development of policies and systems for prevention and care, and research and innovation to help accelerate TB elimination.
The strategy sets the ambitious goals of reducing TB deaths by 95% by 2035 and reducing cases by 90%. It also sets the goal of eliminating catastrophic costs for TB patients and their families over the next five years, the release said.
Meantime there are two events scheduled to mark World Tuberculosis Day. One is an ‘End TB’ chat on Twitter, which starts at 11 am (EDT) today with PAHO/WHO TB experts Rafael López and Anna Volz. Persons tweeting should use #ENDTB. The other is an international panel discussion tomorrow from 11 am to 1 pm (EDT) on ‘How can we renew the commitment to end TB in the Americas?’ The discussion is being held in Peru, but can be viewed via www.livestream.com/ paho.
