Accurate and timely reporting and diagnosis needed to end tuberculosis by 2030
by Medtalks Social Healthcare Learning Platform in New Delhi‘GTN’ strategy for ending the disease should be
mandatorily followed by health experts across India
In its latest
2018 Global tuberculosis (TB) Report, the WHO has indicated that countries are
still not doing enough to end TB by 2030. The global body called for an
unprecedented mobilization of national and international commitments and urged
for decisive action from nearly 50 heads of state and government. Despite a
decrease in the number of TB deaths in the past year, underreporting and under
diagnosis of cases continues to remain a major challenge.
To
urgently improve detection, diagnosis and treatment rates, the WHO and partners
launched a new initiative in 2018 to set the target of providing quality care
to 40 million people with TB from 2018 to 2022. This was while predicting that
at least 30 million people should be able to access TB preventive treatment during
the period.
Speaking
about this, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr K K Aggarwal,
President, HCFI, said, “TB is a preventable and curable disease and yet despite
advances in TB care, India continues to have the highest burden of both TB and
MDR TB patients and accounts for about a quarter of the global TB burden. An
estimated 1.3 lakh incident multi-drug resistant TB patients emerge annually in
India, which includes 79000 MDR-TB Patients estimates among notified pulmonary
cases. India also has the dubious distinction of being among the top three
countries, where the gap between estimated TB incidence and reported cases is
the highest at 25%. This wide gap in the incidence of TB and the reported cases
highlights the IMA End TB Strategy of ‘GTN’, where G stands for GeneXpert test
(sputum diagnosis), T for Trace (contacts) and Treat. N is to Notify the
disease at Nikshay (mandatory).”
India has
set 2025 as deadline to be free of TB. Although preventing and controlling TB
is a collaborative effort, doctors are major stakeholders in the control of TB.
Control of TB depends on early detection, which means early and better
treatment to prevent further spread of TB. Contact tracing interrupts the chain
of transmission of the disease by early diagnosis of cases as well as timely
and complete treatment.
Adding
further, Dr Aggarwal, who is also the President (Elect), CMAAO, said, “All
household and close contacts of patients with infectious TB should be traced,
screened and treated with a full course of ATT if found to have TB. Most of us
doctors regularly treat many patients of TB. We should now reiterate our
commitment to ‘GTN’ and file our returns. Ask yourself, how many GeneXpert
tests you have ordered… how many contacts you have traced and screened for
TB…and how many TB patients you have notified at Nikshay. You can notify even
today, if not done earlier. It is not necessary to notify the day you diagnose
the patient as having TB.”
In a
video on Medtalks. in, Dr K K Aggarwal speaks about MDR-TB as a public
health and medical emergency. He says that the entire country is in a state of
“angina” with an impending “TB attack”. GTN (glyceryl trinitrate) is used to
relieve angina and prevent an anticipated heart attack such as before exercise.
A similar “GTN” is needed to prevent “TB attack”. Medtalks is a free and
complete healthcare
learning and patient education platform.
It provides continuous medical education (CMEs), learning and information to stakeholders including
doctors, paramedics, nurses, allied healthcare workers, and patients.
Some tips
from HCFI to avoid spread of TB infection
- Wash your hands after sneezing,
coughing or holding your hands near your mouth or nose.
- Cover your mouth with a tissue
when you cough, sneeze or laugh. Discard used tissues in a plastic bag,
then seal and throw it away.
- Do not attend work or school.
- Avoid close contact with others.
- Sleep in a room away from other
family members.
- Ventilate your room regularly.
TB spreads in small closed spaces. Put a fan in your window to blow out
air that may contain bacteria.
About MedTalks
Medtalks is the leading Indian platform for medical webinars making the latest research more accessible to doctors via
live and recorded webinars updated weekly. Medtalks uses an advanced search
feature that allows doctors to find and discover relevant content using
hashtags and predictive search features. Setting your preferences will allow
the system to suggest new content related to you better. The medical content
provided through MedTalks are given by Doctors specialized in their fields.
Address:
Medtalks
E-219,
Basement, Greater Kailash 1,
New
Delhi -110048 India
https://www.facebook.com/Medtalks-1588563944574035/
https://twitter.com/medtalksin
https://plus.google.com/117889156118896478289
https://in.pinterest.com/medtalksin/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/medtalks-healthcare/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJigKBjNneO7p8xvHLrGRCg
Sponsor Ads
Created on Oct 20th 2019 06:25. Viewed 475 times.