{"id":239096,"date":"2023-04-21T20:16:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T14:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=239096"},"modified":"2023-04-24T16:35:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T11:05:05","slug":"a-new-edge-to-the-fight-against-tuberculosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/a-new-edge-to-the-fight-against-tuberculosis\/","title":{"rendered":"A new edge to the fight against tuberculosis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>– The post is based on the article \u201cA new edge to the fight against tuberculosis\u201d <\/strong>published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d <\/strong>on 21st April 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: <\/strong>GS 2- Issues related to development and management of health<\/p>\n

News – <\/strong>At the One World TB Summit in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi instilled fresh energy to global tuberculosis (TB) elimination response and reiterated India\u2019s commitment to spearhead this effort.<\/p>\n

What is the progress of India in fighting against TB?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India\u2019s National Tuberculosis Control Program<\/strong> has introduced several measures to find, notify and treat TB cases. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Case notifications<\/strong> have risen from 15.6 lakh in 2014 to over 24 lakh in 2022. This reflects the program\u2019s expanded reach and improved detection measures.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Novel approaches<\/strong> have been introduced to fight TB. It includes engagement with the private sector<\/strong>, launch of social support provisions<\/strong> and introduction of diagnostic tools and new drug <\/strong>regimens. It has improved TB management. <\/strong><\/p>\n

What are challenges in the fight against TB?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is a lack of widespread awareness<\/strong> about the disease and lack of access to quality care. <\/strong>The recent National TB Prevalence Survey<\/strong> found that 64% of people with infectious TB did not seek care.<\/p>\n

National-level estimates s<\/strong>uggest that for every person notified with TB, it misses detecting almost two more cases.<\/p>\n

What is the way forward for elimination of TB in India?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is a need to introduce disruptive approaches<\/strong> and new tools to change the way for preventing, diagnosing, and treating TB.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vaccines<\/strong>– For any infectious disease, a vaccine is what makes elimination possible. The BCG vaccine <\/strong>for TB does not adequately protect adolescents and adults. There is a need to prioritise and pick up the pace to find an effective TB vaccine. <\/strong><\/p>\n

There are currently over 15 TB vaccine candidates in the pipeline. There is a need to ensure that their clinical trials are prioritised to assess their efficacy<\/strong> in various community settings and for different target groups.<\/p>\n

Testing<\/strong>– Testing for, and diagnosing TB needs to become more accessible and affordable. Point-of-Care Tests<\/strong> such as home-based tests for COVID allow decentralised, rapid and low-cost diagnostics <\/strong>to provide results within minutes. New innovations such as nasal and tongue swab-based tests<\/strong> for TB can be a game changer.<\/p>\n

Further, handheld digital x-ray machines <\/strong>can now be taken to villages and urban settlements to screen large numbers of high-risk individuals, safely and conveniently.<\/p>\n

Drugs<\/strong>– The development and introduction of new therapeutic molecules<\/strong> can play a crucial role in the long run. There is a need to scale up newer and more effective regimens<\/strong> and repurpose existing drugs<\/strong> for TB.<\/p>\n

Shorter, safer, and more effective regimens<\/strong> do exist. It includes the 1HP regimen for latent TB infections, the four-month regimen for drug-susceptible TB, and the six-month regimen for drug-resistant TB. These need to be scaled up.<\/p>\n

Policy framework<\/strong>– There is a need to create regulatory and policy frameworks<\/strong> for smooth rollout of proven tools to reach people with little delay.<\/p>\n

This requires greater collaboration between policymakers, scientists, product developers, clinical researchers and governments. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Harmonization of standards and regulatory processes <\/strong>between countries is important. It can enable mutual recognition<\/strong> of evidence-based standards<\/strong> and licenses.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– The post is based on the article \u201cA new edge to the fight against tuberculosis\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 21st April 2023. Syllabus: GS 2- Issues related to development and management of health News – At the One World TB Summit in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi instilled fresh energy to global tuberculosis… Continue reading A new edge to the fight against tuberculosis<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,11353,10498,1727],"class_list":["post-239096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-national-tb-programme","tag-the-hindu","tag-tuberculosis","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704914809},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}