WHO calls for 'immediate need' to ramp up treatment of TB in South East Asia

Tuberculosis (TB) kills more than a million people every year with almost half of them from the World Health Organisation's (WHO) South-East Asian Region, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted while addressing a 'high-level' meeting on Tuesday. Records of TB infections have notably increased after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted services in the past two years. Following the latest updates, the health ministers of countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region have committed to intensify efforts to end the "preventable and treatable" disease.

The meeting was organised by the Health Ministry of India, Indonesia and Nepal in collaboration with the WHO South-East Asian Regional Office. Inaugurating the virtual conference, WHO Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh asserted the "immediate need to scale-up preventive, diagnostic and treatment services for TB and significantly bolster special protection measures while specifically addressing undernutrition among the vulnerable populations." Her call was echoed by health ministers present at the conference who pledged to commit a multi-sectoral approach to counter TB with robust national programs with close monitoring of targets.

"Despite being preventable and treatable, TB kills more than a million people every year, almost half of them in the WHO south-east Asian region. We must intensify efforts towards ending TB," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the conference.

Estimation for $3 billion annual sanctions to implement new measures

The health ministers at the virtual summit acknowledged the need to increase budgetary and human resource allocation, including upfront investment, to pace up and hold the ground that was lost during the pandemic era. With no formal announcement, the ministers just estimated that annual sanctions worth $3 billion will be required to implement a comprehensive set of interventions requiring to end TB infections in the region.

To address the challenge of TB holistically, the health ministers also agreed to mainstream social and financial protection along with TB care services. "Systematic provision of socioeconomic, support adapted to the country context, to the patient and family is essential and more relevant in the COVID-19 era," a statement released by WHO mentioned. Aligning with the agenda to 'End TB' undertaken at the 2018 TB summit, Dr Khetrapal also vowed to "work together to mobilise political and financial commitment...to provide rapid and relevant guidance and technical assistance to all countries in the region."

As per WHO, despite being a preventable and curable disease, TB is the world’s top infectious killer. The WHO South-East Asia Region, home to a quarter of the world's population, bears 43% of the global TB burden and one-third of the global burden of drug-resistant TB. TB cases increased to 3.6 million cases in 2019 from 2.6 million cases in 2015. As a result, the total treatment coverage increased by about 30%. 

Image: AP/PTI