Ending tobacco use is the bedrock for progressing towards ending TB and SDGs
SHOBHA SHUKLA, BOBBY RAMAKANT - CNS
End tobacco use to progress towards ending TB and keeping promises on other SDGs goals and targets
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Globally all governments have promised to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030, with the Indian government aiming to end it 5 years before the global target. TB was the deadliest of all infectious diseases till the pandemic hit us. But if we look at TB high-burden nations, such as India and Indonesia, it continues to be the biggest killer infectious disease leaving COVID-19 behind - though undeniably, even one death due to TB or COVID-19, is a death too many.
Every case of active TB disease comes from those who are infected with the TB bacteria (referred to as latent TB infection). Additionally, the top-5 TB risk factors - malnutrition, tobacco use, alcohol use, diabetes and HIV- increase the risk of progressing from latent TB to active TB disease manifold. these risk factors also make it difficult to treat TB, and risk of death also shoots up, says Dr Guy Marks, President of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union).
Indonesia's Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin called for stronger actions to end all forms of tobacco smoking in the country to progress towards ending TB. Tobacco smoking is the biggest preventable cause of not only TB but also several other life-threatening diseases in Indonesia, as well as globally. He was delivering the keynote address at the Indonesia National Webinar on the theme "Yes! We can end TB and tobacco smoking," co-hosted a day before World Health Day 2023 by Indonesia's Ministry of Health, All Indonesia Public Health Services Association (ADINKES), Indonesian TB Research Network (JetSet TB), International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union) and Asia Pacific Cities Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT). This almost 5-hours long virtual session was attended by 1000 people from diverse government ministries, departments and other sectors from Indonesia, Nepal, India, Singapore, and other countries in Asia Pacific region.
According to the latest Global TB Report 2022 of the World Health Organization (WHO), Indonesia has the second highest TB burden in the world after India. There were 969,000 estimated TB cases in Indonesia in 2021, out of which 74% (717,941) were notified to the national programme. Over half of TB cases (53%) were males (in whom smoking rates are higher too).
More alarmingly, the WHO report points out that the top-5 TB risk factors in Indonesia in 2021 were: undernourishment (which caused 120,000 new TB cases), tobacco smoking (which caused 113,000 new TB cases), HIV (which caused 35,000 new TB cases), diabetes (which caused 28,000 new TB cases), and alcohol (which caused 14,000 new TB cases).
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