by Maria Giovanna Faiella
Every year 10 million people get sick in the world, 1.3 million die. Since 2000, 75 million lives have been saved. Some good Italian practices. Girardi (Spallanzani): «In Italy it is possible to eliminate tuberculosis as a public health problem». that’s how
Every year, around the world, 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis;
one million three hundred thousand lose their lives. Yet, this infectious disease can now be prevented and treated. According to data from the World Health Organization, 75 million lives have been saved since 2000, thanks to efforts made to fight it globally. This is why, on the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, which occurs on March 24, the theme chosen by the WHO is «Yes! We can end TB!» (Yes! We can put an end to tuberculosis”), a message of hope but also an invitation to intensify the fight against the disease until it is eradicated by 2030, one of the Goals of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda.
Eliminating TB in Italy is a possible goal
«In countries like Italy (there are over two thousand cases per year, ed.) eliminating tuberculosis as a public health problem is a possible objective which requires renewed commitment – underlines Dr. Enrico Girardi, scientific director of the National Institute for the Infectious Diseases IRCCS Lazzaro Spallanzani of Rome, in a video (Who) released on the occasion of the world day – . Our Institute is working to contribute to this ambitious goal on several lines: ensuring rapid diagnosis and adequate treatment for people with tuberculosis; ensure that those who have had exposure to or are at risk of tuberculosis have interventions to prevent the infection from progressing to disease; contribute to developing new tools through research for the control of tuberculosis for better diagnosis, for better therapy, for a better outcome for patients”.
Adds Delia Goletti, director of the Translational Research Unit at Spallanzani: «In the world two billion people have a latent tuberculosis infection and of these approximately 10% will develop the disease but, at the moment, we have no tools to identify them in advance. Spallanzani’s translational research group has demonstrated the presence of tuberculosis mycobacterium in the CD34+ cells of the blood of patients with latent tuberculosis infection. These cells could represent niches where the bacterium hides and then reactivates. The results of these studies will allow us to arrive at precision medicine to identify those who are at greater risk of developing the disease in the future and to design targeted therapies to prevent them from becoming ill and from spreading the infection themselves. It is important to continue investing in tuberculosis research.”
In some countries, poor services, poor information, stigma
A few decades ago tuberculosis seemed unbeatable; today it can be prevented and treated. Why can’t we eradicate it?
«In some countries it is not possible to eradicate it for a series of reasons – says Daniela Cuomo, responsible for planning and initiatives in the territory of the Global Center for Mutual Development (CMSR), one of the civil society organizations adhering to the Italian Global Health Network who are carrying out projects for the prevention and treatment of TB in the areas where it is most widespread -. In some African states, for example, a series of problems add up: from lacking or poorly equipped health facilities – sometimes even without electricity and drinking water – to the lack of information on how TB is prevented and transmitted, up to the treatments that are paid for (they are free only in some states). And then, there is the fear of the stigma that still exists towards those with tuberculosis or AIDS, so those affected do not talk about it so as not to be isolated; so the chain of contagion continues.”
Hence the importance of disseminating correct information and, at the same time, supporting fragile health services. One of the projects aimed at eradicating tuberculosis in the area, through better diagnosis and treatment services and the training of local operators, is the one that the CMSR is carrying out in Tanzania, in the Dodoma region, involving more than twenty villages in the district. by Kondoa. It was financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation through the “5% Global Fund Call”, i.e. one of the mechanisms with which the Italian Cooperation supports the actions of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, carried out in the beneficiary countries.
Italian projects in Tanzania
Daniela Cuomo explains: «We operate on two levels: the first is to raise awareness of tuberculosis, therefore how it is prevented, how it is treated and why it is important to talk about it; we do this above all through the training of the so-called Community Health Workers, i.e. community workers who also have the task of identifying cases of tuberculosis in the various villages and supporting patients in taking the therapies correctly. Another activity that we carry out, in collaboration with the local authorities – continues the person responsible for planning and initiatives in the CMSR territory – consists in trying to improve basic health services, so that they have a greater capacity to identify suspicious cases, also through the tools necessary for diagnosis, such as microscopes and others. If we think about the health services of a country like Tanzania, – Cuomo underlines – we must consider that at a local level the points of reference are the dispensaries, a sort of small clinics that serve 4-5 villages, even very distant from each other. They are often very dilapidated structures, even without running water and electricity, so first of all we need to activate the essential services to make them operational, then we try to make them autonomous, with staff capable of providing medicines in less serious cases, following up on patients even going to the villages. And, to facilitate travel from one village to another, often difficult to reach due to the lack of means of transport, we gave them bicycles, as well as smartphones to facilitate communications with other local health facilities, such as more equipped centers where they can send patients who need to undergo more in-depth analyses, and local hospitals to send the most seriously ill.”
March 23, 2024 (modified March 23, 2024 | 12:49)
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