Public Health Free Paper on Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is among the world’s leading causes for morbidity and mortality. An estimated one in every three people in the world are said to be infected with the M. Tuberculosis virus, and out of the numbers, between 5 and 15% are likely to develop active signs and symptoms of the disease in their lifetime (Yu et al., 2020). The disease is even more potent in the presence of pre-existing conditions in the patient. Therefore the possibility of people dying from issues related directly with the disease and those that died from conditions that were aggravated by TB is quite significant. While TB is present in all the countries, it mostly affects people in middle and low-income nations, especially those found in the third-world countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the nations in South East Asia.

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In contemporary times, significant steps have been made towards the treatment and management of Tuberculosis, with the need to reduce the number of deaths from the disease being the major goal for the concerned areas (Raviliogne &Smith, 2007). The elimination of infectious diseases is among the millennium development goals. Therefore, there has been sufficient funding for research in the medical fields concerned with the need for management, containment, and eradication of TB. Despite the achievements registered thus far in the program towards the elimination of deaths from TB, there has been an increasing need for increased efforts towards the total eradication of the disease, since its effects pose a threat to the society in the social and economic aspects. Therefore, it is for this reason that all concerned parties in the medical field should take a special interest in the ways through which the public health can be inclusive of a society whereby the spread of TB can be contained and positive effects achieved in the long run towards total eradication.

Demographics Affected by Tuberculosis

All age groups in society are at risk of contracting TB. However, the most affected age group is that of adults in their most productive years. More than 95% of the deaths recorded from TB are from the people in developing countries. Therefore this goes to show that the developing nations have not taken enough measures into place to address the disease as the developed nations have (Bette et al., 2019). The infection of HIV and AIDS puts the people suffering from TB at even higher risks of succumbing to the infection of TB since they are likelier to have weakened immune systems, hence leading to the possibility of death resulting from contracting the disease. Additionally, the possibility of people suffering from malnutrition suffering from TB is even higher, since they will not have the nutrients needed for the build-up of effective immune systems that can fight off the effects of TB on the immune system.

The existence of prevalence of TB in people suffering from malnutrition and HIV and AIDS is characteristic of underdeveloped countries and societies, hence showing that TB is most prevalent in the areas where the population lives below the poverty margin. The existence of poverty in a community also plays a role in the spread of the disease, since the poverty derails the access to medical services, hence leading to the infected people accessing the needed medical attention when the disease has caused excessive damage on their bodies, and have unknowingly spread the disease to many people (Bette et al., 2019). Also, poverty has led to the increased possibility of the spread of the disease through the congestion witnessed in the poverty-stricken areas. TB is an infectious disease that spreads through contact and air, and the congestion helps in the exponential spread of the disease.

Initiatives in Place to Help in the Containment of TB

In 2018, the United Nations held a conference involving all the member states in the conversation on how to contain and eradicate TB from the world. At the end of the meeting, the unanimous agreement by all member states to the UN was that the previous commitments made by them towards the elimination of TB and other communicable diseases in their Sustainable Goals agenda was reaffirmed and also the addition of even more commitment and action points that would help in achieving the same (Sakamoto et al., 2019). The member states agreed to work towards eliminating TB by 2030, and that before attaining the goal of total elimination, they would work towards containment and reducing the number of deaths from the disease.

There were also political declarations made in the meeting, whereby new targets concerning tackling TB were made. First, the goal to treat at least 40 million people of TB for the five years between 2018 and 2022 was set, hence reducing the number of infected people from society. Reduced number of infections results in reduced spread and mortality from the disease. Secondly, the 5-year period between 2018 and 2022 was to be used in achieving the goal of reaching at least 30 million people with the treatment used in the treatment of TB, thus preventing the rates of suffering from the people infected with the disease (Piatek, 2017). This would also help in the first goal of providing treatment for infected people. Additionally, the world governments committed themselves to provide at least $13 billion towards the treatment and management of the disease for the five years between 2018 and 2022. Finally, the decision to mobilize more funds towards research towards the research in finding vaccines and more effective treatments to help further in the management and treatment of the disease.

Agencies Funding the Program

There have been concentrated efforts from the relevant authorities to help in the fight against TB worldwide. First, the United Nations has been an active member in the fight against TB. The UN has been using its political power and influence over the member states to help in gathering them and in formulating the needed policies as discussed above that help in the development of the preparation of means through which the nations of the world can effectively express ways through which they can tackle the issue of TB infections (Sakamoto et al., 2019). Secondly, the World Health Organization has an active role in the fight against TB by being in close alliance with the UN to help in the execution of the plans made by the individual governments via the UN meetings that they have.

The WHO is also responsible for the allocation of funds since they are the body in direct with individual countries and therefore have a grasp on the amounts needed by each state in the countries involved. Apart from the execution of the set goals and allocation of funds, the WHO is also responsible for the research into the disease so that they can work towards formulating a useful and more effective curative measure to help in the containment of the disease (Sakamoto et al., 2019). Therefore, the WHO is also the international body tasked with the duty of finding a working solution for the global issue that the world faces through the existence of TB in society. The USAID has also been an active partner in the fight against the spread and effects of TB in the world. The USAID plays the role of a funding partner to the fight against the TB virus, therefore helping in the reduction of the spread of the disease even further.

How DNP will utilize this Information in Capstone Projects

From the information provided above, the DNP will be able to be better prepared for the management, treatment, prevention, development of policies, and seek funding for the projects in and around TB. When the DNP is equipped with information on the areas more affected by TB, they may concentrate their efforts on the management of the disease in the areas that portray more risks of the viruses spreading in (Acharya, D’Souza & Sahoo, 2017). this way, the spread of the disease will be managed better, so that the disease will not have as detrimental effects as it would have if there were no preparation for the disease in the first place. Secondly, through using the information provided in the paper, a DNP will effectively concentrate their research programs on the areas that they have seen mostly linked with the spread of the disease. Therefore, the researchers will seek to find a further connection to the link between poverty and the tropical conditions in which the disease is more prevalent in their capstone projects.

Furthermore, the DNP will be more equipped in their efforts to provide their input towards the issue of TB when needed. Through this paper, the major areas of concern and for future research has been addressed, and therefore the DNP will be able to provide their input from an informed point of view, rather than when the findings of this paper were not available to them (Acharya, D’Souza & Sahoo, 2017). Also, through this paper, the DNP will be able to know bodies from which they can source for the funding of their capstone projects, hence aiding in the fight against TB.

References

Acharya, P. R., D’Souza, M., & Sahoo, R. C. (2017). Tuberculosis knowledge and attitude in aspiring doctors and nurses–Is it time for our TB teaching methods to evolve?. Indian Journal of Tuberculosis, 64(1), 20-25.

Batte, C., Kirenga, B., Katamba, A., & Baena, I. G. (2019). Catastrophic total costs due to tuberculosis among affected households in Uganda; prevalence, drivers and policy implications.

Piatek, A. (2017). Tuberculosis diagnostic networks: Moving beyond the laboratory to end tuberculosis in Africa. African journal of laboratory medicine, 6(2), 1-2.

Raviglione, M. C., & Smith, I. M. (2007). XDR tuberculosis—implications for global public health. New England Journal of Medicine, 356(7), 656-659.

Sakamoto, H., Lee, S., Ishizuka, A., Hinoshita, E., Hori, H., Ishibashi, N., ... & Shibuya, K. (2019). Challenges and opportunities for eliminating tuberculosis–leveraging political momentum of the UN high-level meeting on tuberculosis. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1-7.

Yu, W. Y., Wang, Y. X., Mei, J. Z., Hu, F. X., & Ji, L. C. (2020). Overview of Tuberculosis. In Tuberculosis Control in Migrating Population (pp. 1-10). Springer, Singapore.