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“World Bank funds to fight TB inadequate”

CAPE TOWN: Not restricted to just India, “Gandhigiri” has found takers here with the attendees at the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Annual Conference bombarding World Bank president Robert Zoellick with postcards urging a substantial increase in direct financing for tuberculosis control in Africa.

Participants of the conference — part of the on-going international meet on “Promoting lung health in low and middle income countries” — claimed that they had decided to take on the World Bank and its leadership to task after learning that the bank continued to grossly under-finance efforts to check tuberculosis in Africa, two years after African Ministers of Health declared a ‘tuberculosis emergency’ across the continent.

Meanwhile, international health experts and researchers gathered here in the city on Friday also discussed the significant strides being made around the world in the fight against tobacco use, with countries, including India, China and Bangladesh, being applauded for their various on-going and proposed anti-smoking projects.

“Worldwide, five million people die needlessly each year from tobacco-use, which accounts for 10 per cent of all the adult deaths in the world. There are 1.3 billion smokers globally today and half of whom will eventually die from tobacco’s effects and two-thirds of whom live in only 15 countries of the world. These nations, several of which are major tobacco producers, typically have scant if any anti-smoking programmes,” said anti-smoking expert Judit Mackay from the World Lung Foundation, a non-government organisation dedicated to promote lung health worldwide.

Health officials here, while underscoring the link between tobacco use and lung diseases, and the growing urgency for tobacco control in low and middle income nations, noted that they were looking at working closely with governments across the world for tobacco control.

“The past year has shown that with adequate resources, support and internal leadership all nations can develop and carry out meaningful actions in tobacco use prevention, control and public education,” said Sinead Jones, Director, Tobacco Control, at the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.

Highlighting the importance of tobacco control for a healthy population, Karen Slama, Head, Operation Unit, International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said: “We now have compelling evidence which shows that non-exposure to smoking and second hand smoke can significantly reduce tuberculosis rate and save millions of dollars currently spent on treatment for the infectious diseases.”

Tuberculosis is a curable disease, yet according to experts it is the leading cause of death among the 40 million people infected with HIV/AIDS.

In response to this crisis, the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease has created a model that is being tested in Asia and Africa.

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