There is so much to say on TB day. Here is a link to the Global TB report with Myanmar well featured in it. TB incidence in Myanmar is not decreasing much and treatment is not keeping up.
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/250441/1/9789241565394-eng.pdf
And a press release by MSF.
Jamie
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Myanmar - New Hope for TB patients
Press Release
MSF
Yangon, 22 March, 2017
With 9.4 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths each year, tuberculosis (TB) is one of the developing world’s biggest killers; and 85 percent of cases occur in Asia and Africa. Myanmar also has high rates of TB and Multi-Drug resistant (MDR-TB). In 2016, MSF together with the Myanmar National TB Programme (NTP) started introducing two new drugs to treat people suffering from MDR-TB. The new drugs bedaquiline and delamanid have proven highly effective especially for patients with severe forms of drug-resistant but can also be used for regular MDR TB patients, who cannot tolerate the regular treatment. While the new drugs show promising results, access to new TB drugs worldwide is limited. Currently, only 2 % of DR–TB patients worldwide have access to new TB drugs.
“We are diagnosing more and more cases of drug resistant tuberculosis and for these patients, the new drugs are desperately needed. With more efforts and with help of the new TB drugs we can save more precious lives. New drugs provide hope, but remain largely out of reach for patients”, says Khachatur Malakyan, Country Health Director for MSF in Myanmar.
TB is the most common opportunistic infection and the main cause of death for people living with HIV. To address the challenges of TB and HIV co-infection, MSF provides TB treatment as part of its HIV programmes and is currently giving free diagnosis, treatment and counseling to co-infected HIV patients in Shan and Kachin states and in Thanintharyi region. Also, in Yangon, MSF continued to provide care to 16,869 patients with HIV, some co-infected with TB or MDR-TB.
“I have been on treatment for ten months and so far I haven’t experienced any side effects from the new drugs. When I first started the treatment, I did not feel well and coughed. But now I am not coughing and I don’t feel sick anymore. I’m much better and I can eat and sleep well again, says Ko Aye Kaing who is a patient at MSF Clinic in Yangon.
“Last year we started to use the two new drugs and since then 19 patients have started the treatment. There are fewer side effects with the new TB drugs than with the old ones. So far our patients feel better and now, half way through the treatment plan it looks promising as most patients are stable”, says Dr. Ye Yint Naing, Medical Activity Manager.
FACTS ABOUT TB There are 9.4 million people living with TB worldwide. It is one of the top ten causes of death. It kills more people than HIV. Each day 4,500 people die from the disease. This is more than 3 people every minute. TB occurs in every part of the world. The largest number of new TB cases occurred in Asia.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization. It has been fighting TB for over 30 years and is now one of the biggest non-government providers of TB care worldwide. It currently treats patients with TB and drug resistant TB in 24 countries, including Myanmar.
