Challenges and opportunities for eliminating tuberculosis – leveraging political momentum of the UN high-level meeting on tuberculosis

Abstract

BackgroundAs demonstrated by the United Nations High-Level Meeting on tuberculosis (TB) held in September 2018, the political momentum for TB has been increasing. The aim of this study was to analyze the current challenges and opportunities for global TB control and, with specific focus on policies surrounding TB control, to reveal what kinds of efforts are needed to accelerate global TB control.MethodsWe organized two expert meetings with the purposes of assessing the current situation and analyzing challenges regarding TB control. By applying Shiffman and Smith’s framework which contains four categories; Actor, Ideas, Political context, and Issue characteristics, we analyzed the challenges and opportunities for global TB control based on the findings from the two expert meetings.ResultsIn the Actor Category, we found that although there has already been active engagement by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs) and private sectors, there still remained an area with room for improvement. In particular, the complexities behind varying drug regulatory and procurement systems per country hindered the active participation of the private sector in this area. As for the Ideas category, due to an increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance and growing number of global migrations, TB is now widely recognized as a health security issue rather than a purely health issue. This makes TB an easier target for political attention. As for the Political category, having the UN High-Level Meeting itself is not enough; such meetings must be followed up by actual commitments from heads of states. Lastly the issue characteristic indicates that the amount of funding for R&D for new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for TB is not at an adequate level, and investment in childhood TB and missing cases are particularly in need.ConclusionsThis study provides important insight into the current status of global efforts toward end TB epidemic. The outcomes from the UN high-level meeting on TB need to be closely monitored will be crucial for the progress towards this goal.

Nanoparticle-Based Biosensing Assay for Universally Accessible Low-Cost TB Detection with Comparable Sensitivity as Culture

“…Annually, about 1.6 million die from tuberculosis (TB) [1], with 9.4 million new cases around the world [2]. TB is the leading cause of death globally, surpassing HIV since 2014 [3,4]. Because TB is highly infectious, each person with undiagnosed and untreated smear-positive TB is estimated to cause 10-14 infections per year, where about 10% would eventually become a new case of TB [5,6].…”

“…Furthermore, multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB (MDR/XDR-TB) have become global public health threats. There are many TB patients who have no access to health care facilities or proper diagnosis and treatment [4]. In 2018, Heads of State at the United Nations called for action to end TB 3 .…”

Sensor-as-a-Service: Convergence of Sensor Analytic Point Solutions (SNAPS) and Pay-A-Penny-Per-Use (PAPPU) Paradigm as a Catalyst for Democratization of Healthcare in Underserved Communities

“…An essential aspect of TB is the substantial financial burden placed on patients and their families due to treatment and associated costs. For example, TB patients are often required to take absence leave from work, which, is unpaid in some cases, leading to a higher risk of financial struggle in the household [51]. Tanimura et al reported the distribution of financial burden for the TB patient as 20% due to direct medical costs, 20% due to direct non-medical costs, and 60% due to income loss [52].…”

Acetyleugenol from <em>Acacia nilotica</em> (L.) exhibits a strong antibacterial activity and its phenyl and indole analogs show a promising anti-TB potential

“…Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is among the top 10 causes of death worldwide [1], and represents serious challenges that faces the global disease eradication policy owing to the growing antimicrobial resistance [2,3]. TB kills annually around 1.5 million people with over 80% in the developing countries including India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and South Africa [4].…”