Whether or not the BRICS puts new money on the table for TB research, is a crucial test of whether the United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB represents a new dawn in the fight against TB, or just empty rhetoric.
The dramatically lower rate of new tuberculosis infections and TB deaths in South Africa just reported by the World Health Organisation primarily reflects a change in methodology rather than an actual change in the number of TB cases. Either way, it makes for welcome news.
After decades of relying on isoniazid-based TB preventive therapy as the best option for TB prevention, a number of new regimens have done well in clinical trials and at least some of them will soon be rolled out.
By Ngqabutho Mpofu Nosipho Soga is a 19-year-old learner who hails from Kuyasa, a Khayelitsha township in Cape Town. She can best be described as bubbly, intelligent, engaged and relatively…
By Ngqabutho Mpofu Dressed in a Robert Sobukwe Dashiki and trendy shoes, Thando Jack draws [caption id="attachment_6508" align="alignright" width="300"] Thando Jackby Joyrene Kramer[/caption] gazes from the mainly white upper middle-class…
The South African Department of Health this week announced it will be making a new tuberculosis medicine available more widely than recommended by the World Health Organisation. The department deserves credit for this brave decision that will both save lives and prevent many patients from suffering irreversible hearing loss.
The Health Systems Trust last week published the latest edition of the District Health Barometer (DHB). The DHB provides a wealth of district, provincial and national level data on a wide variety of indicators. Below we have picked out eight interesting national-level findings.
Delays at the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) has meant that the new NSP (National Strategic Plan) will now only be ready in March 2017.
By Salmaan Keshavjee – Tuberculosis (TB) has surpassed HIV/AIDS as the biggest infectious killer of adults worldwide. In 2015, an estimated 10.4 million people became sick with the disease – one million of whom were children – and 1.8 million people died.
Marcus Low – Last month the annual Union World Conference on Lung Health was held in Liverpool, United Kingdom. As always at this conferences, much was said about how the world needs to step up the fight against tuberculosis (TB) – about how we need new agendas and paradigm shifts.
By Mike Frick – The world spent less on tuberculosis (TB) research in 2015 than it did in 2009. This decrease in spending does not track a similar decline in TB incidence or mortality.
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.