русский        english       

Home
News
Bidding
Education
Library
About Program
Country Coordinating Mechanism
Russian Health Care Foundation
The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Contacts

News



30.03.09 Scientists intend to test the recently developed TB vaccine candidate

In the nearest time, scientists are starting a major trail of the recent decade: they intend to test a new TB vaccine candidate which may yield a substantial enhancement of immunity.

Jerald Sadoff, Chief Executive Officer, Global TB Vaccine Foundation, sponsoring the clinical study, says that it is expected to be launched in the nearest months and cover 2,800 children from the South African Republic.

Tuberculosis is a communicable disease of humans and animals caused by several acid-fast bacteria. The disease is known to the humankind since ancient times, but until the 20th century, it was practically incurable. According to the International Organisation of Ecology and Health, TB hits 8.8 million people and kills 1.7 million people a year, in spite of the fact that TB vaccination is provided everywhere. Scientists attribute it to the mutation of TB causative agents and the loss of their susceptibility to vaccines and drugs.

According to Jerald Sadoff, an effective TB vaccine is critically needed if we want to control the situation. As reported by Bloomberg, scientists are going to test the vaccine candidate on children in the Brewelskloof TB hospital in the Republic of South Africa. Selection of children for vaccination is expected to start in early April. To ensure ‘purity’ of the experiment, newborns will be vaccinated with the standard BCG, while babies older 2.5 months will be vaccinated with the vaccine candidate, and the rest of the children will be injected with placebo.

Annually, 100 million newborns are vaccinated with BCG, primarily, in developing countries. It precludes the development of grave TB forms which lead to lethal outcomes. Developing countries have the highest TB mortality that is why scientists decided to start their trials there. According to preliminary estimates, the total cost of the project will amount to US$ 14 million.

So far, scientists cannot make any forecasts, but if the new vaccine proves to be better than the previous one, it will be a real breakthrough in the health sector.



26.03.09 On March 24, 2009, the ITAR-ASS News Agency hosted a press conference held at the initiative of the WHO on the occasion of the World TB Day.

On March 24, 2009, the ITAR-ASS News Agency hosted a press conference held at the initiative of the WHO on the occasion of the World TB Day. Detailed information is presented in a paper available from:

http://www.itar-tass.com/level2.html?NewsID=13710571



26.03.09 World TB Day: Anti-TB Campaign in Penza

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the causative agent of the disease) was first discovered by German scientist Robert Koch in 1882 and that happened on March 24. Nowadays, the situation is aggravated with the global crisis. This disease is a multifaceted social and medical problem and many Russian TB specialists predict worsening of the statistics. The overall goal for physicians is to ensure timely detection of TB. In Russia, TB incidence is about 120 new cases a year, with TB mortality estimated at about 25,000 deaths a year.

Activists had badges in the form white daisies which symbolize purity. The purpose of the campaign is to increase public visibility of the TB problem. Today, there are over 1,000 TB patients in the Penza Oblast. Most of them are men.

“We published HIV and TB brochures because these two problems are always going side by side so we wanted to remind about the HIV problem as well,” says Natalia Dite, Head of a Department of the Oblast TB Dispensary.

HIV-infected patients should go through x-ray screening, but healthy people are not insured against this plague, either. There are several factors contributing to TB growth, including overstrain, stresses, smoking, alcoholism and drug use. There is a false opinion that TB symptoms should necessarily include cough and fever. Often, the disease develops without any striking symptoms. It may be precisely diagnosed only through fluorography.
According to a patient, she has a fluorography examination every year. She works in a school, and TB screening is a mandatory procedure for both teachers and students. The school supervises it very well.

Natalia Dite stresses that it is always important to remind of the need go through TB screening even though people are aware of it which is proved by the fact that a lot people are always waiting for a long time in front of fluorography offices.

The screening is free of charge not only on the World TB Day. Since March 2009, various rayons of the city have mobile laboratories where anyone may be x-rayed. The results are handed over at once.



24.03.09 World TB DAY

This year, the WHO recommended marking the World TB Day under the motto: Stop TB Now!

The WHO predicts TB to remain among the 10 lead causes of illness and death in the world for the nearest decade.

In Russia, the key contributors to TB growth include political change, migration processes, lowered life standards, and stresses.

The current social and economic conditions and high resistance of TB causative agents to TB drugs make all population categories exposed to the risk of infection unless people take preventive measures.

In 2009, the World TB Day campaigns are designed to:
1. Increase public visibility of the TB problem.
2. Inform broad public of the danger and grave consequences of TB infection, measures of personal and public prevention, need for timely screening for purposes of early detection and timely treatment of the disease.
3. Emphasise the importance of personal contributions of each individual into TB control (including public authorities, politicians, health workers, patients and their families, school students, adolescents, youth, etc.).
The World TB Day campaign would provide a basis for preventive activities during 2009.



24.03.09 World TB Day Press Conference in Moscow

STOP TB NOW! is the motto of the World TB Day press conference held in Moscow at the WHO’s initiative on March 24, 2009. The WHO estimates the global TB incidence at about 9 million new cases a year. In the Russian Federation, the average TB incidence for the recent three years is 117,000-120,000 new cases a year, with about 25,000 people dying from TB every year. The global community is alarmed with the growth of extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB), which practically incurable.

The TB situation is aggravated with global economic crisis. TB is a multifaceted social, health and biological problem, and according to lead Russian TB experts, there will be a rise in the XDR-TB incidence and mortality and incidence of TB+HIV co-infection since 2009.

Today, the ITAR-TASS press conference included presentations made by: Ms. L.Mikhailova (MOHSD), Academician M. Perelman (Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, TB and Lung Disease Research Institute, Moscow Medical Academy named after Sechenov), Mr. A. Kononets (Federal Prison Service), Ms. T. Kolpakova (Russia Office, WHO), and Mr. M. Bionyshev (Deputy Project Director, RHCF).



24.03.09 TB in the Volgograd Oblast

In 2008, TB incidence among permanent residents of the Volgograd Oblast decreased compared with the previous year. The improvement resulted from coherent measures taken by the regional TB service.

On the eve of the World TB Day, which is marked on March 24, regional health specialists presented up-dated TB epidemiologic data.

According to information from the Regional Clinical TB Dispensary, TB incidence was 82.1 per 100,000 permanent residents of the region in 2008 (versus 87.6 per 100,000 in 2007). Among all the residents of the region (including local residents, migrants, and prisoners), the TB rate also got reduced.

There was a 45% decrease in TB incidence among adolescents (both permanent residents of the Oblast and new comers). In this age group and among children, TB rates remain lower that for Russia as a whole. The number of newly detected extra-pulmonary TB cases decreased in the region, and most of them are bone and joint and urinogenital TB cases. As earlier, the incidence of TB relapses tends to decrease and the same downward tendency is observed in the incidence of TB with fibrosis and cavities (the most severe form of TB) among permanent residents of the region.

The press service of the Oblast Administration informs that in the recent years, TB prevalence keeps on going down. But in several rayons, the situation remains very bad. It is noteworthy that regional TB mortality is lower than country-wide, with no children and adolescents dying from TB.

Another improvement is more effective TB case monitoring and treatment. The regional bed capacity of TB inpatient facilities is 1,732 beds. After basic course of treatment, TB patients are referred to regional TB sanatoria which can accommodate about 1,000 persons. In the Volgograd Oblast, there are 3 TB prison hospitals (1,210 beds), where TB-infected prisoners stay and are treated, there are also 300 beds for patients with mental ailments combined with TB.

Owing to the National Priority Health Project and provision of new fluorography equipment, residents of the region (especially rural people) have received better access to screening services. In 2006, 48% of the total population aged 15 + were screened for TB, in 2008, their share increased to almost 72%.

At the same time, specialists recognize that the regional TB situation remains rather complicated and the overall TB rate is higher than for Russia on the average. To a great extent, it is attributable to the ‘abundant source’ of TB infection in prison facilities, mass-scale migration processes and other factors, with the medical factor accounting for about 15-20% in the overall endeavour to combat the disease.



27.02.09 February 27, 2009
Sources: Action, AFEW


Representatives of over 300 organisations from different countries, including Russia, signed a letter to the Finance Ministers of the G7. The letter urges G7 nations to pledge new money to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which is facing a $5 billion dollar gap in funding for 2009 and 2010.

According to the letter, the gap actually exists because this year, the Global Fund is scaling up with bigger and higher quality proposals (worth of a total of US $3.1 billion versus $1.1 billion in 2007), and just approved the largest funding round ever. The Global Fund provides a quarter of all international financing for AIDS globally, two-thirds for TB and three-quarters for malaria.
In 2009 and 2010, the Global Fund expects that about US$ 8 billion will be needed to fully fund all approved programs. But donor funding has not yet caught up, leaving a US$ 5 billion gap on pledges from donors.

As noted in the letter, since its inception in 2001, the Global Fund estimates that it has been responsible for providing antiretroviral treatment for 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS; detecting and treating 4.6 million cases of infectious TB; distributing 70 million insecticide-treated bed nets and 74 million malaria drug treatments.

As a reminder, the Board of the Global Fund determined that if more country demand led to more, better proposals deserving funding, additional resource mobilisation would be needed. All G7 countries are represented on the Board of the Global Fund and have agreed in principle to mobilise resources necessary to meet increased demand. The authors of the letter deem that it is time “to make sure that the promises made to the people for the world are kept”.



25.02.09 Proceedings of the Conference will be published in the 7th issue of the TB/HIV Epidemiological Bulletin in 999 copies for all participants of the Conference.

As part of the Program: Promoting a Strategic Response to TB -- Treatment and Care for Vulnerable Populations in the Russian Federation, the MOHSD’s Centre of TB Care for HIV Patients will hold the 3rd Russian National Conference (with international inputs) on Multi-Drug Resistant TB in HIV Patients.

The Conference will take place in Moscow on May 12-13, 2009. Board and lodging costs of its participants will be paid by the Russian Health Care Foundation.

TB+HIV care specialists/coordinators from Russian regions and managers of treatment and diagnostic services from AIDS and Communicable Disease Control Centres are invited to take part in the Conference (no more than 2 persons from a region).

Proceedings of the Conference will be published in the 7th issue of the TB/HIV Epidemiological Bulletin in 999 copies for all participants of the Conference.

Papers to be included in the Conference Proceedings (1 - 4 pages) should be prepared as Word documents and sent by March 15 2009 to Olga P. Frolova by e-mail: opfrolova@yandex.ru or on discs at the address: O.P. Frolova (for the Conference), Barbolina Str., 3, Moscow 107014, Contact phones: (499) 268-25-15; (495) 614-84-55;
Mobile: 8-916-651-45-23, Е.mail: opfrolova@yandex.ru."



25.02.09 12.05.09 - 13.05.09 3rd Russian National Conference (with international participation) on Multi-Drug Resistant TB in HIV Patients

As part of the Program: Promoting a Strategic Response to TB -- Treatment and Care for Vulnerable Populations in the Russian Federation, the MOHSD’s Centre of TB Care for HIV Patients will hold the 3rd Russian National Conference (with international inputs) on Multi-Drug Resistant TB in HIV Patients.

The Conference will take place in Moscow on May 12-13, 2009. Board and lodging costs of its participants will be paid by the Russian Health Care Foundation.

TB+HIV care specialists/coordinators from Russian regions and managers of treatment and diagnostic services from AIDS and Communicable Disease Control Centres are invited to take part in the Conference (no more than 2 persons from a region).

Proceedings of the Conference will be published in the 7th issue of the TB/HIV Epidemiological Bulletin in 999 copies for all participants of the Conference.



19.02.09 According to Ms. Golikova, the MOHSD intends to curtail pharmaceutical imports in the second half of 2009

According to Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, the MOHSD intends to curtail procurement of imported pharmaceuticals and shift the emphasis to domestic manufacturers of pharmaceutical products starting from the second semester of 2009. In her speech in the State Duma, she said: “We shall rely on domestic manufacturers for public procurement of pharmaceuticals as much as possible”.

Regional authorities express their concern about the situation in the pharmaceutical market. In particular, Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow, warned that the City of Moscow might face a deficit of pharmaceuticals in the nearest future due to the dominance of imported products. "Many suppliers of pharmaceutical products procure them abroad for foreign currency, however, they cannot sell them here for the same prices due to the growing exchange rates", clarified Yuri Luzhkov.

The Mayor of Moscow also noted that imported pharmaceuticals accounted for about 80-90% of all pharmaceuticals in Russia; therefore, this is not only a Moscow-specific problem, but a general public issue to be addressed.


Pages:   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14
 Copyright © 2006-2008, Russian Health Care Foundation
 Development and support: Monitoring&Evaluation Unit Federal Public Health Institute
 Web-design: Этот e-mail защищен от спам-ботов. Для его просмотра в вашем браузере должна быть включена поддержка Java-script
 Programmers: Этот e-mail защищен от спам-ботов. Для его просмотра в вашем браузере должна быть включена поддержка Java-script , Этот e-mail защищен от спам-ботов. Для его просмотра в вашем браузере должна быть включена поддержка Java-script  and Этот e-mail защищен от спам-ботов. Для его просмотра в вашем браузере должна быть включена поддержка Java-script