Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan has reiterated the Government’s commitment for tuberculosis (TB) elimination by 2025. “In India, under the guidance of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, India has accorded high priority for ending tuberculosis by 2025, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),” Vardhan told his counterparts from […]
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis and the impact of COVID-19
While India continues to pour resources into fighting the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, other health issues are too often sidelined. Many, such as tuberculosis (TB) have plagued India since long before the pandemic. TB, due to rapidly developing drug resistance, threatens to become all but untreatable in the coming decades. This situation can only worsen as […]
Infectious disease
India faces the challenge of a range of infectious diseases. While deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are becoming increasingly prevalent, huge numbers of Indians continue to die annually due to infectious disease. This dual burden of disease has the potential to put a substantial amount of stress on an already underfunded and under resourced health […]
Press Release – Awardees Announced for the DR-TB Lifeline QuickFire Challenge
Media contacts Joshina Kapoor (India) jkapoor2@ITS.JNJ.com +919820711080 Jessica Freifeld (Global) jfreifel@its.jnj.com +1 917-520-1198 Awardees Announced for the DR-TB Lifeline QuickFire Challenge Two of the five awardees – who will receive both $50,000 in grant funding and mentorship from J&J experts – are Indian NGOs renowned for their work in TB Care and Management – Doctors […]
Interview: Urban Weber of the Global Fund on COVID and the Big Three
The response to the ‘Big Three’ – HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis – has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts have warned that a surge in deaths due to the ‘Big Three’ could ensue, as the pandemic hits access to vital medicines and other treatments and disrupts much-needed prevention campaigns. To discuss the effect of […]
Why we need to fix the healthcare system: An interview with Dr Mikashmi Kohli
“There is a need for proper planning and strengthening the healthcare system where both the pandemic and these other treatable diseases can be managed simultaneously,” Dr Mikashmi Kohli told me recently. “We now have diagnostic tools which are multi-disease platforms so focusing just on COVID-19 , while forgetting about patients suffering from these manageable diseases, […]
HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria: A surge in deaths?
It is not news that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to public health – and as managing the pandemic ostensibly takes top priority for health systems worldwide, the ramifications for management of other diseases is a real concern. This concern has been raised in a modelling study released by The Lancet Global Health […]
Coronavirus – not India’s sole health concern
Media coverage – especially on the topic of healthcare – is currently dominated by the coronavirus (COVID-19). This is not unexpected, as the disease figures worldwide are surging, now exceeding one million cases. However, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot lose sight of other health concerns, as failure to address these could […]
Coronavirus to disrupt TB medicine supply?
World TB [Tuberculosis] Day was observed on March 14. A number of points were raised regarding progress against the disease. However, in the era of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, fears were also raised over supply chains – including by the World Health Organization (WHO). Officials of the WHO noted that, due to the pandemic and […]
World TB Day 2020: India’s progress on the disease
“COVID-19 is highlighting just how vulnerable people with lung diseases and weakened immune systems can be,“ said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General. “The world committed to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030: improving prevention is key to making this happen. Millions of people need to be able to take TB preventive treatment […]