The adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis (TB) services has brought the urgency of vaccine development efforts into sharp focus as it was discussed at a high-level panel on tuberculosis at the World Economic Forum, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, announced plans to establish a new TB Vaccine Accelerator Council earlier this week.
The Council will facilitate the licensing and use of effective novel TB vaccines catalysing high-level alignment between funders, global agencies, governments and end users in identifying and overcoming barriers to TB vaccine development.
In a statement of World Health Organisation, Dr.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that one of the most important lessons from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic is that innovative health interventions can be delivered fast if they are prioritized politically and financed adequately and added that the challenges presented by TB and COVID-19 are different, but the ingredients that accelerate science, research and innovation are the same: urgent, up-front public investment; support from philanthropy; and engagement of the private sector and communities. We believe the TB field will benefit from similar high-level coordination.
Despite countries making bold commitments to end TB by 2030, in the Sustainable Development Goals, the WHO End TB Strategy and the 2018 political declaration on the fight against TB, the epidemic shows no sign of slowing down. In 2021, approximately 10.6 million people fell sick with TB, and 1.6 million died. Drug-resistance continues to be a major problem with close to half a million people developing drug-resistant TB every year.
BCG is currently the only licensed TB vaccine as it provides moderate efficacy in preventing severe forms of TB in infants and young children, it does not adequately protect adolescents and adults, who account for close to 90% of TB transmissions globally.
A recent WHO commissioned study, An investment case for new tuberculosis (TB) vaccines estimates that, over 25 years, a vaccine that is 50% effective in preventing disease among adolescents and adults could avert up to 76 million new TB cases, 8.5 million deaths, 42 million courses of antibiotic treatment and US$ 6.5 billion in costs faced by TB affected households, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable.
A vaccine that is 75% effective could avert up to 110 million new TB cases and 12.3 million deaths. The study further suggests that every US$ 1 invested in a 50% effective vaccine could generate an economic return of US$ 7 in terms of averted health costs and increased productivity.
Later this year, heads of states and governments will meet for a second United Nations high-level meeting on TB to review progress against commitments made in the 2018 political declaration. This presents an important opportunity to correct setbacks in the TB response, which includes the urgent development and delivery of new TB vaccines.
As per another press release of World Health Organization, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization are holding a high-level technical meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health with Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The discussion focuses on progress, challenges, and opportunities to scale up multi-sector actions on NCDs and mental health and to set out recommendations to scale up actions that save and improve lives.
For this occasion, WHO has released a data portal on NCDs in SIDS highlighting some of the highest prevalence rates of NCD and mental health risks in the world. The data shows that over half of people in SIDS are dying prematurely from NCDs and the rate of hypertension is over 30% in almost all of the countries.
Ten of the countries with the highest rates of obesity worldwide are small island states. The highest prevalence of diabetes among adults in the world is also projected to be in SIDS. Rates of mental health conditions reach as high as 15% in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
“Countries are facing multiple overlapping crises. The climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with poverty, unemployment, inequality and the marginalization of minority communities are fuelling an increase in non-communicable diseases and mental health conditions,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO in a statement and added that “To address these challenges, we need to hear from affected communities about the challenges they face and the solutions that work in diverse settings. We look forward to working with SIDS to achieve ambitious outcomes on NCDs and mental health.”
SIDS countries are disproportionately exposed to the impact of the climate crisis on both physical and mental health. The high prevalence of risk factors for NCDs such as tobacco use, low physical activity, unhealthy diet and obesity, coupled with weak integration of NCDs and mental health services in Primary Health Care (PHC) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC), left populations vulnerable to becoming severely ill with COVID-19. This placed further pressure on already strained health systems. Progress and investment in NCD prevention and control, as well as mental health promotion and care, remain inadequate.
(The author is a regular columnist and can be mailed at m.hanief@gmail.com)
