Economist Intelligence Unit Report Calls for Urgent Global Action to Combat the Growing Tuberculosis Pandemic

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LONDON, June 30 / PRN=KYODO JBN / --

A new report on tuberculosis (TB) published today by The Economist Intelligence

Unit (EIU) investigates the increasing health challenges posed by TB and calls

for new ways to improve the effectiveness of the global response to this

pandemic.[1] The report supported by Janssen and titled 'Ancient enemy, modern

imperative: A time for greater action against tuberculosis', highlights the

evolving TB crisis.  It emphasises the urgent need for integrated care,

harnessing innovative yet cost-effective strategies and raising the profile of

TB to overcome this highly infectious, yet treatable killer.

Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Secretary at the STOP TB Partnership explains that

TB has been met with apathy: "It is like an orphan. It has been neglected even

in countries with a high burden and often forgotten by donors and those

investing in health interventions."

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/mnr/71400565-urgent-action-to-combat-tuberculosis-pandemic

As a result of the need for critical change to enable more effective TB

control, the report calls for new TB strategies that address current

weaknesses, while leveraging successes to date. These changes include:[1]

Finding and treating people where they live: To identify the nearly 3 million

new cases of TB every year, health systems in countries with a high TB burden

need to look across the entire population.  Even those countries with a lower

prevalence have to find better ways of going into and working with marginalised

populations.

Taking TB control out of existing silos: TB needs to treat the whole person,

including addressing common co-morbidities such as HIV/AIDS, and co-ordinating

public and private health provision.

Harnessing cost-effective technology: Although progress in TB remains

frustratingly slow, new tools available today - both medical and non-medical

such as mobile technologies and integrated databases - have the potential to

transform treatment.

Raising the profile of TB: Perhaps most important, activists and other

stakeholders must translate new global ambitions into national ones - that

deploy the tools at hand with sufficient energy to make more rapid progress

against this disease.

"The report calls for more attention to the basics in the battle against TB and

the drug-resistant form of the disease; current efforts are insufficient and

resistance is out of control. The vast majority of people with multi drug

resistant (MDR) TB are not properly diagnosed or treated appropriately, and we

have to recognise that MDR-TB is a real global public health emergency. Not

only is the growth of drug resistance making TB control more difficult, but it

is also revealing failures in basic TB control," said Dr Neil Schluger, Chief

Scientific Officer of the World Lung Foundation and chair of the Tuberculosis

Trials Consortium.

If these required changes are urgently implemented this will play a key role in

helping achieve the new "Post 2015 Global Strategy and Targets for Tuberculosis

Prevention, Care and Control", approved by The World Health Organization

(WHO).[2] These latest targets call for reducing the incidence of TB to below

10 cases per 100,000 population and cutting the number of deaths by 95% by 2035

- however this will require healthcare systems to make dramatic progress and

for the apathy associated with TB to be extinguished.

"While efforts in the fight against TB have saved millions of lives, to control

this disease effectively, fundamental changes are required. With the

development of new treatments and cost-effective technologies, now is the time

to make these changes so that they can be introduced responsibly and

sustainably through structured health systems," said Wim Parys, M.D., R&D Head,

Global Public Health, Janssen. "We are committed to driving better health

outcomes, improving the lives of TB patients worldwide and continuing to work

towards a coordinated global TB control strategy that ensures treatments are

available and used appropriately."

Tuberculosis is responsible for the second greatest number of deaths from a

single infectious disease, after HIV/AIDS, causing 1.3 million deaths in 2012

(2% of global mortality).[1] Someone with active, pulmonary TB on average

infects around one new person per month and in two thirds of active cases, if

left untreated, TB is fatal.[1] For pulmonary TB this is usually as a result of

degrading the lungs to an extent the person affected eventually suffocates to

death.  

Despite treatments for TB existing for nearly 70 years[3] and the WHO

estimating that 22 million lives have been saved due to ongoing successful

efforts since 1995[2] the report emphasises that progress has been too slow and

significant weaknesses still remain. The report highlights that MDR-TB, defined

as being resistant to the most powerful first-line treatments[4] have received

too little attention with rates of MDR-TB continuing to make up an increasing

percentage of all new TB cases across the globe, especially in central Asia and

Eastern Europe.

A full copy of the EIU report and supporting materials, including static and

animated infographics, are available at:

http://www.janssenhealthpolicycentre.com  

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is the world's leading resource for

economic and business research, forecasting and analysis. The EIU is

headquartered in London, UK, with offices in more than 40 cities and a network

of some 650 country experts and analysts worldwide. It operates independently

as the business-to-business arm of The Economist Group, the leading source of

analysis on international business and world affairs.  More information is

available at http://www.eiu.com

About Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB)

MDR-TB is a particularly complicated form of TB characterised by resistance to

at least two of the standard four-drug, anti-TB drugs.[4] Inadequate treatment

allows resistant bacteria to thrive and poses a significant transmission risk

to the general population.[4] Without significant public health intervention,

it is estimated that more than two million people will be infected with MDR-TB

strains of TB, between 2011 and 2015.[5]  

About Janssen and TB

Janssen has developed a new treatment for MDR-TB.  The company has a global

commitment to addressing diseases of high unmet need, such as MDR-TB, and to

underscoring the need for improved treatment options and patient access to

treatment.

About Janssen Global Public Health

The Janssen Global Public Health (Janssen GPH) group complements the

groundbreaking science of the Janssen Pharmaceutical companies of Johnson &

Johnson with innovative strategies that improve access to medicines, foster

collaborations and support public health solutions to sustainably advance

health care worldwide. Current areas of focus include multidrug-resistant

tuberculosis (MDR-TB); human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); elephantiasis and

river blindness; intestinal worms; and use of mobile technologies (mHealth) to

improve health outcomes.

References:

Economist Intelligence Unit. 2014. Ancient enemy, modern imperative: A time for

greater action against tuberculosis. Available at

http://www.janssenhealthpolicycentre.com   

WHO. Global strategy and targets for tuberculosis prevention, care and control

after 2015. May 2014. Available at

http://www.who.int/tb/post2015_tbstrategy.pdf?ua=1 (last accessed June 2014)

Zumla A, et al. Advances in the development of new tuberculosis drugs and

treatment regimens. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2013;12:388-404. Available at

http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v12/n5/box/nrd4001_BX1.html (last accessed

June 2014)

Centre for Disease Control. Tuberculosis fact sheet. Available at:

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/drtb/mdrtb.htm (last accessed

June 2014)

WHO. Partners call for increased commitment to tackle MDR-TB. March 2011.

Available at

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2011/TBday_20110322/en/index.html.

(last accessed June 2014)

Source: Janssen