WHO SEAR High-Level Meeting for Renewed TB Response
Source : Indian Express
GS II : International institutions; GS II : Health; 

What is discussed under WHO SEAR High-Level Meeting for Renewed TB Response ?

1. India in the meeting
2. Impact of COVID – 19
3. About WHO SEAR

Why in News ?

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar addressed the inaugural session of WHO SEARO High-Level Meeting for Renewed TB Response. 

Key Facts

• India in the meeting
  • India emphasized the fact that the South-East Asia Region bears the highest burden of TB disease among all six Regions
  • It has been a major source of fatalities for centuries and has now exceeded HIV/AIDS and malaria as the world’s largest cause of death from an infectious disease.
  • Most of these deaths occur among young adults in the economically productive age group of 15-45 years, resulting in high economic and social consequences.
  • The economic burden of TB alone is huge in terms of lives, money and workdays lost.
  • political commitment that has translated into increased domestic resource allocation for TB programmes, most notably in India and Indonesia, with 43% of the budget in 2020 coming from domestic sources.
  • TB case notifications have declined by 20-40% and outreach activities specifically related to increased case finding, preventive treatment and psycho-social support have been disrupted.
  • The Call for Action in March 2017 has led to the implementation of revamped TB strategies within South-East Asia Region Member States towards ending TB.
  • This was reiterated at the Delhi End-TB Summit of March 2018, in the run-up to the UN high-level meeting (UNHLM) in September 2018.
• Impact of COVID – 19
  • Highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on TB, the pandemic has reversed years of progress made in the fight against Tuberculosis.”
  • The pandemic has also allowed us a huge set of learnings that would help in TB elimination efforts.
  • despite significant progress, the region as a whole, has missed the 2020 milestones of the End TB strategy and may also miss the 2022 coverage targets.

WHO SEAR

• One of the six WHO Regions, WHO South-East Asia is home to over a quarter of the world’s population. 
• Committed to building a better, healthier future for the nearly two billion people in the Region, WHO is working with the 11 Member States to address persisting and emerging epidemiological and demographic challenges.
• With the Region prone to natural disasters, disease outbreaks and health risks of climate change, one of WHO’s key priorities is to strengthen emergency risk management for sustainable development.
• Promoting universal health coverage – health for all – and building robust health systems are key priorities.
• The Region has eight flagship priority programmes, aligned to WHO’s global triple billion goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia plans for TB
  • To establish a Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for TB (STAG-TB).
  • Provide guidance on strategic directions, technical issues and policy formulation for the TB work in the Region.
  • The formation of group is timed with the ongoing work on Regional Strategic Plan towards ending TB 2021-25.
  • The main goal of the STAG-TB is to provide independent review and technical input to the TB control policies, strategies and activities of the WHO Regional Office for the South-East Asia, facilitate the regional adoption and adaptation of the updated global recommendations.

About Tuberculosis (TB)

• Tuberculosis is a potentially serious infectious bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs.
• How it Spread ? : The bacteria that cause TB are spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
• Symptoms : Most people infected with the bacteria that cause tuberculosis don’t have symptoms.
  • When symptoms occur, they usually include
    • Cough
    • Weight loss
    • Night sweats
    • Fever.
• Treatment
  • Treatment isn’t always required for those without symptoms.
  • Patients with active symptoms will require a long course of treatment involving multiple antibiotics.
• TB is a major public health challenge in the South-East Asia (SEA) Region of WHO.
• Over 43% of the global TB incidence and half the TB associated mortality is from SEA Region.
• Six of 11 countries in the Region are on the high TB burden country list.

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