The world desperately needs an effective TB vaccine to reduce the illness and death still being caused by the centuries’ old bacterium. Chris Bateman visited a study site in Paarl where a promising experimental TB vaccine is now being tested as part of a large multi-country clinical trial.
The TB Sustainable Development Goals of reducing incidence and deaths from TB are achievable, if we all work together. We must double down on this ambition and be even bolder in our investments, write Yogan Pillay and Gaurang Tanna.
Just over a month after US President Donald Trump implemented a 90-day freeze of all foreign assistance, the future looks very uncertain for tuberculosis research. Among others, a large TB research programme that was worth up to $200 million was axed last week. Elri Voigt reports.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has stymied the progress of the tuberculosis response across the world, the call for increased investment is important. Although health programmes can always do with more financial assistance, in South Africa, for its TB Recovery Plan to work, the focus should be on the strategic use of existing resources, argues Russell Rensburg.
It is little wonder that some TB vaccine researchers suffer from a rare syndrome that understandably threatens their mental health. Symptoms include frustration, impatience, irritability, seemingly inexplicable rage, and in the least resilient, despair. It’s called VJS or vaccine jealousy syndrome, writes Chris Bateman.
It is time to engage communities through community healthcare workers and to leverage COVID-19 innovations to advance the urgent need for high-quality, person-centred tuberculosis (TB) care for all, argue authors from leading TB advocacy organisation TB Proof.
A community caregivers project for rural KwaZulu-Natal AIDS orphans and vulnerable children hangs in the balance as donor money from the United States dries up.
