South Africa’s National Department of Health is set to receive a donation of child-friendly formulations of several medicines used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB). It is expected that over the next year the donation will spare roughly 200 children the substantial difficulties associated with taking DR-TB medicines meant for adults.
Diagnosing tuberculosis is difficult in people who struggle to cough up sputum samples – a particular problem in children and people living with HIV. One promising alternative to testing sputum is to test stool. Tiyese Jeranji unpacks the latest developments in this area.
After various delays and setbacks, a new, less toxic, short-course tuberculosis preventive therapy called 3HP is finally being launched in six districts in South Africa. Tiyese Jeranji reports.
By Marcus Low – An online tool launched last week sheds light on what patents have been granted for which medicines in a number of developing countries.
