Act now before it’s too late
On the 24th March 1882, Robert Koch, a German physician and microbiologist, firstly isolated the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis (TB). By doing so he proved that TB is an infectious disease and not an hereditary condition as believed at that time.
On 24th March 2014, 132 years after that essential discovery, the world celebrates the progresses made in the fight against TB and takes stock of the steps necessary to achieve its eradication.
However, we are not there yet. Tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world. Every year, 9 million people get sick with TB and 1.3 million die because of it. Very worryingly, about 3 million people are “missed” each year by health systems and therefore do not get the TB care that they need.
Global Health Advocates call world leaders and decision-makers to demonstrate increased political will and invest more resources in the fight against tuberculosis.
Please have a look below at our activities for World TB Day 2014 in English and in French:
Plus de 150 chercheurs, médecins et practiciens hospitaliers, dont Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, prix Nobel de médecine 2008, demandent à la France de faire de la recherche contre la tuberculose une priorité. Un vaccin protégeant la population à tous les âges de la vie, un traitement moins lourd à supporter et des diagnostics plus sensibles : voilà les innovations dont nous avons besoin pour enrayer la pandémie avant qu’il ne soit trop tard.
2/ CALL TO ACTION: Drug resistant TB a cross-border threat: EU must act now!
With an estimated 74,000 cases of multi-drug resistant TB in 2012, the European region carries nearly a quarter of the global burden of drug-resistant cases and hosts 15 of the 27 high-burden MDR-TB countries in the world, five of them being EU Member States. Open the TB Europe Coalition’s Call to Action to discover how the European Commission and the EU Member States can take responsibility for protecting the health of European citizens from drug-resistant TB.
3/ PRESS RELEASE: No time to lose for the EU: Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a regional threat
“A failure to act now will mean huge costs in the future, both in terms of lives lost and financial burdens on our health systems. The situation requires a regional response and we believe that the EU institutions are best placed to provide the necessary political leadership and cross-border coordination to fight this killer disease,” said Fanny Voitzwinkler, GHA’s European Policy and Advocacy Manager and TB Europe Coalition Coordinator. Read the press release to find out more.
4/ ARTICLES:
European Voice: Multi-drug-resistant TB: How is Europe responding to the challenge?
This 12-page report by European Voice, one of the leading sources of news on EU policies, examines the success and challenges in the response to TB and drug-resistant TB in the European region. The report contains opinions and quotes from Global Health Advocates and other key stakeholders in the fight against the TB epidemic.
La tuberculose que l’on croit souvent éradiquée en Europe est en pleine résurgence sous ses formes résistantes aux antibiotiques dont nous disposons. Depuis quelques années, elle connaît une attention médiatique grandissante. Malheureusement, les thèmes concernant des patients n’ayant pas accès aux traitements dans leur pays (des États membres de l’Union européenne ou aux portes de l’Europe) ont plus souvent servi d’exemple pour pointer l’échec des politiques migratoires européennes et la nécessité de renforcer les frontières plutôt que pour dénoncer l’urgence sanitaire et sociale et la nécessaire mobilisation politique et financière des gouvernements et des institutions européennes afin de garantir l’accès aux soins.
Accéder en ligne au numéro complet intitulé “Accès aux soins et protection sociale: une autre Europe est-elle possible?” en cliquant ici
Financial Times: Killer of the poor now threatens the wealthy
A special report issued by the Financial Times on World TB Day examines the TB situation globally and in Europe. Check out what Global Health Advocates said about rising drug-resistance TB in Europe.
5/ DISCUSSION PAPER: Making health a right for all: Tuberculosis and Universal Health Coverage
The establishment, and implementation of UHC policies in many developing countries, combined with the increasing interest from UN agencies and donors represents an important opportunity for the response to TB, and the eventual elimination of TB as a public health threat. Discover more on TB and UHC by reading the discussion paper drafted by Action for Global Health and ACTION.
6/PARLIAMENTARY STATEMENT: Accelerate progress towards ending TB as a threat to global public health
In an unprecedented demonstration of support for a single global health issue, over 170 parliamentary representatives from across the G7 and the European Parliament have released a statement calling for a renewed global commitment to “drive down rates of TB across the world and to accelerate progress towards ending TB as a threat to global public health.”
7/BLOG: It’s about time the European Union takes responsibility for drug-resistant tuberculosis
“How did Europe get to this dangerous place where drug-resistant TB is outrunning our attempts to control it?”
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Do you want to know what is happening worldwide for World TB Day? Please click here to access the map by the STOP TB Partnership.
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