The Curious Case Of The Missing TB Patients
How do you fight a war when you can’t even see the enemy? Not a question many would ask, unless, of course, you’re someone who’s bent upon fighting tuberculosis. Every year, more than 4 million tuberculosis cases go unreported, undiagnosed or untreated. The Global TB Report 2016 reveals some startling facts—of the 10.4 million people who suffer from TB, nearly 40 percent go unnoticed by health systems around the world. The same is the case, if not worse, with the 580,000 people afflicted with drug-resistant TB. 80 percent of these folks aren't even on the radar of the global health network. Clearly, you can’t stop a disease if you can’t find it in the first place. Eradication Is A Vague Dream Despite advances in diagnostic tools and newly updated treatment regimens, the world has been unable to stay ahead of the disease. TB tops the chart of deadly infectious diseases—more people die due to TB than any other infectious disease in the world. Moreover, TB is putting up a stubborn front against eradication. Dr. Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director of the Stop TB Partnership, says that if the world goes at the current rate of eradication, it’ll likely take another 170 years before TB is finally wiped out. Well, good luck living until 2187 to see a TB-free world. But unfortunately, that’s the scenario if TB keeps reducing by just 1.5 percent a year. India Needs To Change Its Approach India accounts for nearly 30% of the global TB burden—nearly 2.84 lakh new TB cases are detected each year in the country. In 2016, Telangana alone reported 45,160 new cases of TB and 1722 cases of multidrug-resistant TB. According to Mr. Mujtaba Hasan Askari, President of Helping Hands Foundation, nearly 60% of these patients opted for treatment in the private sector. And due to the private sector’s penchant for poor reporting of cases, the data on the number of TB cases—missing, untreated or unreported—remains elusive. If TB is to be completely eradicated as an epidemic by 2030, global health partners need to treat at least 90 percent of all TB cases. As of now, only 59 percent of people with TB and 21 percent of people with drug-resistant TB are treated. Helping Hand Foundation is doing the best it can to tackle these issues in Hyderabad. The nonprofit is negotiating with the Government Chest Hospital to increase community based surveillance to identify missing cases and defaulters. It’s also focussing on providing end-of-life care to MDR TB and XDR TB patients.
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