The efforts in combating Tuberculosis are easily shown thrown the decline in death rates worldwide from this disease. The support in the fight against this illness from other nations and organizations has resulted in the drop of a 40% death rate according to the World Health Organization. Although there are improvements internationally, there is one region not on track to meet the target of a 50% decline in death rates, that region being Africa. Africa, behind in reaching an adequate standard of health is many aspects, is in need of funding in treating the Tuberculosis disease. The World Health Organization is urging not to reduce funding toward research in treating the illness despite the positive numbers turning out in areas elsewhere. Because of Africa’s lack of resources and availability to treatment, they indigenous are more susceptible to falling victim to the fatal disease. With new strands and variations of Tuberculosis, exploration into finding new vaccines and medicines are vital more than ever. A population high with people affect with HIV leaves their weakened immune systems vulnerable and more easily prone to developing the new form of Tuberculosis. Having regions in the world where the target goal is not yet obtainable serves as an indication that work still needs to be completed. By reducing the funding for research towards curing Tuberculosis, there will be patients unable to receive the medical attention needed and the declining mortality rate has the potential to rise again. The aid from other countries and NGO’s leads to the betterment of developing nations.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2011/tb_20111011/en/index.html
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2011/tb_20111011/en/index.html
The case of tuberculosis presented here is a perfect example of aggregated data vs. disaggregated data. It is definitely good to see improvement internationally for rates of TB, probably due to more advanced and accessible care. However, it is no surprise that when the data gets disaggregated, there are little changes in Africa. The solution to finding a simple cure for TB for those individuals is definitely the most difficult, as their society makes it difficult to implement the more common solutions that have been applied to more developed nations.
ReplyDeleteTB usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have an active mycobacteria infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit their saliva through the air. It is good to hear that fewer people are dying of TB and fewer are falling ill. But Africa definitely a country that need to concern the most, because 82% people who got HIV developed TB.As the professor have been mention that antiretroviral definitely can reduce mortality. From the data, there about half of TB patients testing positive for HIV in Africa. This is something should further research more and find a better solution to cure TB for the most difficultly people to help them live better.
ReplyDeleteIt’s great that there is a decline in the death rates in tuberculosis. This means that we are finding good efficient ways to treat the disease. However, the fact that Africa’s rates are not improving shows that resources are not reaching places where the help is needed the most. The next step in improving global health should be to find a means that help will reach those is dire need.
ReplyDeleteAfrica has too many problems; that fact, no one can dispute. There honestly is not enough funding in the world to fix all the problems in Africa. Instead of tackling all the problems in Africa at once (a.k.a. funding 8,000 different projects), that number should be cut down to the MOST important issues in Africa; once those issues are fixed, go down the list. The way things are running at the moment, while good in intention, will probably take much longer than micromanaging these issues.
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