WHO plan may save 1.2 million Indians from TB.
In a major fillip to Tuberculosis patients, the World Health Organisation(WHO) has announced a two year, $2.15 billion plan to prevent, treat and control drug-resistant tuberculosis. If fully implemented, several drug resistant tuberculosis(TB) cases, including many in India, could be prevented and the lives of more than 1.2 million patients saved.
The WHO has expressed concern over the rising incident of drug resistance in TB patients, which can emerge when patients do not take medication at the prescribed dose and intervals. The new WHO plan outline steps to increase the number of TB laboratories in countries with high levels of TB so that detection and treatment of resistant case can be increased ten fold.
some 80% of budget will be designated for country needs with the remaining sum to support global, regional and national activities by international partners. The WHO estimates that there are 4,24,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant TB(MDR-TB) each year.
The Global MDR-TBand XDR-TB Response Plan 2007-2008 of WHO, details the steps required to provide access to drugs and diagnostic tests for all drug-resistant TB patients by 2015, and identifies costs, milestones and priorities for health services.
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