GUIDING QUESTIONS
* Please share your experiences and perspectives of what works and what doesn’t work in your local settings where MDR-TB related services are available?
* What are the key lessons from this experience, that must be taken into account before scaling up the MDR-TB services any further for enhanced public health outcomes?
RATIONALE
Despite about half a million new MDR-TB cases every year, MDR-TB related services have been limited to very fortunate few with large number of people who need care remaining unreached. Unless required measures are urgently taken to reduce new MDR-TB infection rate, and standard MDR-TB related care is made available and accessible to all those who are in need, a humungous pandemic will continue to brew.
It is acutely important to learn lessons on what worked and what didn’t in rolling out MDR-TB services which currently reach a very small fraction of people who need care for MDR-TB. These lessons must inform the ongoing roll-out and accelerate scale up of MDR-TB services in different countries and contexts, to enhance positive public health outcomes.
TIMELINE:
The online consultation is open for three weeks (Wednesday, 17th October 2012 to Wednesday, 7th November 2012), after which a SUMMARY REPORT will be published by CNS and partners.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE?
Have your say by:
- Joining the new Stop-TB eForum by sending an email to: stop-tb-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or stoptb@citizen-news.org
- Becoming an organizational PARTNER of this online consultation - to be a partner organization, send an email to: stopTB@citizen-news.org
- EMAIL us your comments, perspectives and experiences at: stopTB@citizen-news.org
- Go online at CNS blog: www.citizen-news.org and publish your comments real time!
- Skype us and we will record your statement (skype id: bobbyramakant ). To schedule skype appointment, email: stopTB@citizen-news.org
- Tweet us! use #tag: #MDRTB
- Have your say on our CNS Facebook page!
- Call us and record your statement! (+91-98390-73355)
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SUMMARY REPORT?
The summary of this online consultation will feed into the issue brief which the onsite CNS team at the 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) will use to provide issue-based coverage. The CNS team members and partners will also raise key issues highlighted by this consultation process at this conference in appropriate sessions. The summary report will be distributed at this conference, and also be disseminated to national TB programmes of 27 high burden MDR-TB countries identified by the Stop TB Partnership, and through other channels such as Stop-TB eForum, CNS syndicate, other networks and social media platforms.
BACKGROUND
There were about 650,000 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) present in the world in 2010. Annually, about 440,000 fall ill with MDR-TB and 150,000 die due to this form of TB. India has an estimated annual incidence of 99,000 cases of MDR-TB (which is second only to China with about 100,000 cases). Out of these only 3610 cases had been initiated on category IV treatment till 2010 under the DOTS Plus program.
TARGETS
Scaling up MDR-TB control and treatment services is critical to achieving the goal of zero TB deaths (and HIV deaths) and new infections, the MDR-TB related targets of the revised Global Plan to Stop TB (2011-2015) and national TB programmes such as the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP - DOTS Plus targets).
LEARN BEFORE WE SCALE UP
We can only effectively scale up the roll out of MDR-TB services, if we learn well from the experience of rolling out MDR-TB services in the past years, in different settings and for different key populations and contexts.
REFERENCE DOCUMENTS
Stop TB Strategy
Global Plan to Stop TB: 2011-2015
WHO Global Tuberculosis Control Report 2012
WHO Global Tuberculosis Control Report 2011
Whole Is Greater Than Sum Of Its Parts: CNS report 2011
RNTCP Annual TB Report 2011
MDR-TB Planning Toolkit (WHO and PATH) 2012
Hearing the unheard voices: Saving children from tuberculosis (CNS Report 2012)