THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Kerala’s plan to give a vigorous thrust to its efforts to stamp out tuberculosis through the programmatic management of TB preventive treatment (PMTPT) and the ‘Multi-sectoral Accountability Framework for TB Elimination’ will be discussed in detail by international health experts on March 4, marking the end of an absorbing five-thematic discussions on “Kerala Health: Making the SDG a reality”.
A galaxy of doctors, health experts and policymakers from India and abroad will address the webinar session, titled ‘Moving towards TB elimination – A call for action’. They include Prof. Guy Marks, President, The International Union against TB and Lung Diseases; Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership; Dr Kenneth Castro, Senior Scientific Advisor, TB, USAID; and Sevim Ahmedov, Senior Technical Advisor, USAID.
Dr. Roderico H Ofrin, WHO Representative to India, will make a Special Address while Vikas Sheel, Jt Secretary, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, will deliver the keynote address.
Dr Rajan Khobragade, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of Kerala; Dr Rakesh P S NTEP, Consultant WHO; Dr Sunil Kumar M, State TB Officer (Kerala); Dr. Sanjeev Nair, Chair, State LTBI, TWG & STF; Dr Sairu Philip, Professor and Head, GMC Alappuzha; and Dr Shibu Balakrishnan, Regional Team Lead, WHO, will delve into the topic: ‘People’s movement against TB in Kerala’.
Of special interest will be the firsthand account from Divya Sojan, TB survivor & nurse, AIIMS, who will narrate her experiences while living with and combating the disease.
A panel discussion on ‘TB Free Islands – Way Forward’ will witness the participation of Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director, Global TB Program, WHO Geneva; Dr Suvananda Sahu, Deputy Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership; Patrick Osewe, Chief of ADB’s Health Sector Group; Mohammed Yasin, Senior Technical Advisor, Global Fund; and Dr Raghuran Rao, Dy. Director, Central TB Division, Govt of India, among others.
The closing session is organized at 7.30 pm with the special address by Professor V K Ramachandran Vice Chairman, State Planning Board, Govt of Kerala, Dr Srinath Reddy, President, PHFI and Dr Roderico H Ofrin, Representative to India, World Health Organization.
Medical fraternity and others can attend the conference by registering at www.keralahealthconference.in It can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSE0zP8darFGvDn3CyC2ERg
The Kerala government launched “Kerala TB Elimination Mission” in 2018 aligning with the SDG 3, with objectives to achieve TB Elimination by 2030, zero preventable deaths due to the disease, and zero catastrophic expenditure for the families of TB patients.
The programme has also led to a significant decrease of disease burden in younger age groups while paediatric drug sale had a steeper decline. Pharmaceuticals reported sale of kid formulations for 16,000 during 2006, while 2018 sales figures were for 2,030, indicating a decline by 90 per cent.
Idukki district has incident TB notification as low as 40 cases/100,000 population/year, which the country is planning to achieve by 2025.
In Kerala, estimated annual risk of TB infection (0.4) is only one-fifth of the national estimates (1.5). Notification of TB patients from public sector in the state is steadily decreasing since 2009 at a rate of 3.5 per cent while TB drug sale in open market is declining at a rate of 10 per cent per year. Public sector notification was 27,500 in 2009 which declined to 20,992 in 2018. Overall, there was a 40 per cent reduction in anti-TB drug consumption in 2019 compared to 2015.
The webinar series on ‘Kerala Health: Making the SDG a reality’, organised by the state’s Department of Health and Family Welfare, was staggered over five days – Feb 17, 18, 24 and 25 besides March 4, which will be the concluding session in the series, with each session dealing with a health issue that was particularly relevant for Kerala. In addition, two special sessions were held, one on Trauma and Emergency care and another on Ayurveda as part of the health webinar.
Of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 3 seeks to end the TB epidemic by 2030. Geneva-headquartered Stop TB Partnership, with over 1,700 partners in more than 100 countries, says tuberculosis is a curable disease but still kills three people every minute. Both for India and Kerala, the bacterial disease continues to be a challenging health scourge.
