Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/fight-against-tb-plagued-by-shortfalls/460119.html
Fight Against TB Plagued by Shortfalls
09 June 2012
By Alexander Winning
...Medicine shortages have become particularly acute recently, with national media reports drawing attention to low stocks in St. Petersburg after activists chained themselves to the railings outside a local health ministry building to protest the scarcity of anti-TB drugs...
...This troubling tale stands in stark contrast to the rosy picture painted by Russian health authorities, who point to declining infection and mortality rates as a sign that the spread of TB has been effectively brought under control.
According to data provided by the Health Ministry, TB cases declined by about 14 percent from 2008 to 2011 ? down to 73 new cases per 100,000 people each year. TB mortality rates have also decreased 22 percent over the same period to a rate of 14 deaths per 100,000 people last year.
Falling numbers of new cases and deaths, however, appear to mask the true extent of the country's current disease burden.
Despite an 11 percent drop since 2008, Russia's TB prevalence remains uncharacteristically high for a developed country, with as many as 240,000 people suffering from the airborne infection last year. It remains among the top 22 countries in the world by TB infection.
In addition, cases of multidrug-resistant TB and combined cases of HIV/AIDS and TB are on the rise. Last year, these indicators jumped 7.6 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.
Russia currently ranks third by the number of multidrug-resistant TB cases worldwide after China and India, countries with vastly larger populations.
These worrying statistics come amid increased federal outlays that have added bite to the national push to eradicate the disease in the country...
...Shortages of essential drugs have long been a problem plaguing Russia's TB response and have not been met with an effective, coordinated response from the Health Ministry, NGOs argue.
The website Pereboi.ru, which allows TB and HIV/AIDS patients to anonymously report drug shortages, shows that frequent shortages occur countrywide...
Fight Against TB Plagued by Shortfalls
09 June 2012
By Alexander Winning
...Medicine shortages have become particularly acute recently, with national media reports drawing attention to low stocks in St. Petersburg after activists chained themselves to the railings outside a local health ministry building to protest the scarcity of anti-TB drugs...
...This troubling tale stands in stark contrast to the rosy picture painted by Russian health authorities, who point to declining infection and mortality rates as a sign that the spread of TB has been effectively brought under control.
According to data provided by the Health Ministry, TB cases declined by about 14 percent from 2008 to 2011 ? down to 73 new cases per 100,000 people each year. TB mortality rates have also decreased 22 percent over the same period to a rate of 14 deaths per 100,000 people last year.
Falling numbers of new cases and deaths, however, appear to mask the true extent of the country's current disease burden.
Despite an 11 percent drop since 2008, Russia's TB prevalence remains uncharacteristically high for a developed country, with as many as 240,000 people suffering from the airborne infection last year. It remains among the top 22 countries in the world by TB infection.
In addition, cases of multidrug-resistant TB and combined cases of HIV/AIDS and TB are on the rise. Last year, these indicators jumped 7.6 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.
Russia currently ranks third by the number of multidrug-resistant TB cases worldwide after China and India, countries with vastly larger populations.
These worrying statistics come amid increased federal outlays that have added bite to the national push to eradicate the disease in the country...
...Shortages of essential drugs have long been a problem plaguing Russia's TB response and have not been met with an effective, coordinated response from the Health Ministry, NGOs argue.
The website Pereboi.ru, which allows TB and HIV/AIDS patients to anonymously report drug shortages, shows that frequent shortages occur countrywide...