The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that tuberculosis treatment has saved the lives of more than 22 million people. According to the global health regulating body, the number of people ill with TB fell in 2012 to 8.6 million, with global TB deaths also decreasing to 1.3 million.
These were disclosed in the recently released WHO "Global tuberculosis report 2013" published last week.
The new data confirm that the world is on track to meet the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of reversing TB incidence, along with the target of a 50% reduction in the mortality rate by 2015 (compared to 1990)," said WHO.
"A special "Countdown to 2015" supplement to this year’s report provides full information on the progress to the international TB targets. It details if the world and countries with a high burden of TB are “on-track” or “off-track” and what can be done rapidly to accelerate impact as the 2015 deadline approaches."
The report added that one in three people falling ill from tuberculosis are "missing"; another challenge is that of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB.
"Insufficient resources for TB are at the heart of both challenges. TB programmes do not have the capacity to find and care for people who are “hard-to-reach”, often outside the formal or state health system. Weak links in the TB chain (a chain that includes detection, treatment and care) lead to such people being missed.
“Quality TB care for millions worldwide has driven down TB deaths,” says Dr Mario Raviglione, WHO Director of the Global TB Programme.
“But far too many people are still missing out on such care and are suffering as a result. They are not diagnosed, or not treated, or information on the quality of care they receive is unknown.” WHO estimates that 75% of the three million missed cases are in 12 countries," he said.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment