TB patients increasing countrywide
The number of tuberculosis (TB) patients is on the rise across the country.
A National TB Control Programme source says around 40 people here die of tuberculosis every year while around 221 in every one lakh are infected with TB.
According to the Global TB Report 2017 of the World Health Organisation, a total of 223,922 people were detected with tuberculosis, including 9,700 multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients.
Bangladesh, listed among the 30 high TB burden countries, has an annual occurrence of 225 out of every 1, 00,000 people and, on average, 45 out of every 1, 00,000 die annually because of tuberculosis.
Bangladesh is classified by the WHO as having a high MDR-TB burden, with around 4700 cases notified every year, WHO reveals.
WHO is providing technical support to authorities to strengthen activities in addressing the challenges of TB/HIV, MDR-TB in Bangladesh.
WHO has launched a five-year National Strategic Plan Bangladesh for TB Control (2015-2020), which aims to reduce the prevalence of all forms of TB by at least 10 percent by 2020, and 5 percent annually.
Additionally, the plan supports strategies to help ensure successful treatment of all multiple drug-resistant TB cases and strengthens engagement of all public and private health care providers.
While talking to Bangladesh Post, prominent Tuberculosis Specialist Dr Jalal Mohsin Uddin said, “In simple terms the disease of TB has two stages. The first is latent TB infection also called Latent TB or inactive TB, when a person first becomes infected.
In this condition, a person has a TB infection, but the bacteria remains in his/her body in an inactive state, and causes no definite symptoms. It is not contagious. But it can gradually turn into active TB when treatment is delayed for a long term.”
“By going without treatment, around 5 percent TB bacteria infection starts to develop into becoming active within 18 months. The risk of developing active TB increases substantially following HIV infection.”
“Active TB can be broadly divided into two types: TB which is drug-sensitive – responding well to a standard combination first line treatment, and the other, multiple drug-resistant, TB which is resistant to two or more drugs in the first line standard TB regimen.”
“MDR-TB is a form of tuberculosis infection caused by bacteria that are resistant to treatment with at least two of the most powerful first-line anti-TB medications.”
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC's) work on TB diagnosis and treatment includes community-level-education and engagement.
The programme works with different stakeholders of the community to engage them in efforts to identify patients, ensure treatment adherence and reduce stigma.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, Dr Akramul Islam, director of Tuberculosis and Malaria Control Programme of BRAC, said, “Bangladesh faces challenges in achieving universal access to TB prevention and care services because of poor access to good quality diagnostic services, an inadequate system for screening and lack of sustainable funding for staffing.”
A National TB Control Programme source says around 40 people here die of tuberculosis every year while around 221 in every one lakh are infected with TB.
According to the Global TB Report 2017 of the World Health Organisation, a total of 223,922 people were detected with tuberculosis, including 9,700 multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients.
Bangladesh, listed among the 30 high TB burden countries, has an annual occurrence of 225 out of every 1, 00,000 people and, on average, 45 out of every 1, 00,000 die annually because of tuberculosis.
Bangladesh is classified by the WHO as having a high MDR-TB burden, with around 4700 cases notified every year, WHO reveals.
WHO is providing technical support to authorities to strengthen activities in addressing the challenges of TB/HIV, MDR-TB in Bangladesh.
WHO has launched a five-year National Strategic Plan Bangladesh for TB Control (2015-2020), which aims to reduce the prevalence of all forms of TB by at least 10 percent by 2020, and 5 percent annually.
Additionally, the plan supports strategies to help ensure successful treatment of all multiple drug-resistant TB cases and strengthens engagement of all public and private health care providers.
While talking to Bangladesh Post, prominent Tuberculosis Specialist Dr Jalal Mohsin Uddin said, “In simple terms the disease of TB has two stages. The first is latent TB infection also called Latent TB or inactive TB, when a person first becomes infected.
In this condition, a person has a TB infection, but the bacteria remains in his/her body in an inactive state, and causes no definite symptoms. It is not contagious. But it can gradually turn into active TB when treatment is delayed for a long term.”
“By going without treatment, around 5 percent TB bacteria infection starts to develop into becoming active within 18 months. The risk of developing active TB increases substantially following HIV infection.”
“Active TB can be broadly divided into two types: TB which is drug-sensitive – responding well to a standard combination first line treatment, and the other, multiple drug-resistant, TB which is resistant to two or more drugs in the first line standard TB regimen.”
“MDR-TB is a form of tuberculosis infection caused by bacteria that are resistant to treatment with at least two of the most powerful first-line anti-TB medications.”
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC's) work on TB diagnosis and treatment includes community-level-education and engagement.
The programme works with different stakeholders of the community to engage them in efforts to identify patients, ensure treatment adherence and reduce stigma.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, Dr Akramul Islam, director of Tuberculosis and Malaria Control Programme of BRAC, said, “Bangladesh faces challenges in achieving universal access to TB prevention and care services because of poor access to good quality diagnostic services, an inadequate system for screening and lack of sustainable funding for staffing.”
“Lack of engagement of private health practitioners in implementation of the government’s mandatory case notification system is also a problem. Finally, the general public needs to be better informed about TB and its treatment,” he added.
Meanwhile, although officially TB treatment is provided free, studies in Bangladesh consistently show that having TB can be catastrophic to poor households. Treatment of TB and can still cause poor households substantial economic loss. The treatment costs of TB have been estimated at being somewhere between Tk 11,700 and Tk 19,500 to a household.
“The prevalence of TB is seen common to the people of low income family, and those in extreme poverty. Their lifestyle and living place can be blamed for their being affected by such disease,” said Prof Dr Shahedur Rahman Khan, Director of National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital.
“Although treatment is available almost in every hospital in the country, some patients remain undiagnosed due to lack of awareness and a minimum concept of the disease,” he added.
“The prevalence of TB is seen common to the people of low income family, and those in extreme poverty. Their lifestyle and living place can be blamed for their being affected by such disease,” said Prof Dr Shahedur Rahman Khan, Director of National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital.
“Although treatment is available almost in every hospital in the country, some patients remain undiagnosed due to lack of awareness and a minimum concept of the disease,” he added.
The article was published on Bangladesh Post
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