TB Guidelines: WHO announces landmark changes in treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis
TB Guidelines
World Health Organization always keeps us updated about latest health news. They keep the world posted about upcoming deadly viruses and diseases.
World Health Organization keeps on reviewing health problems and their solutions.
Recently, WHO has made some reluctant changes in the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Drug-resistant TB
Further, WHO has released updated consolidated guidelines on the treatment of drug-resistant TB. The guidelines feature major improvements in treatment options for people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB).
Moreover, the guidelines include a new recommendation on the use of a novel all-oral 6-month regimen. The regimen is composed of bedaquiline, pretomanid, linezolid and moxifloxacin in people suffering from MDR/RR-TB or MDR/RR-TB with additional resistance to fluoroquinolones (pre-XDR-TB).
However, the newly recommended BPaLM regimen offers better outcomes. Notably, shortens the duration of treatment, and thus significantly improves quality of life for people with MDR/RR-TB.
Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme, stated “Building on the newly available data, we now have a better and shorter all-oral treatment option for drug-resistant TB. This is a historic change that will be of great benefit to people suffering from drug-resistant TB, easing the burden on health systems and saving lives.”
She further added, “We now call for urgent action by national TB programmes and partners in rapidly transitioning to the new drug-resistant TB treatment regimen.”
Affiliated TB Guidelines
The WHO affiliated Guidelines on Tuberculosis, Module 4:
Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis 2022 Treatment includes all the current recommendations on treatment of DR-TB.
Further, it is complemented by an operational handbook designed to assist the implementation of WHO recommendations by Member States, technical partners and others who are involved in the management of patients with DR-TB.
The WHO Operational Handbook on Tuberculosis, Module 4:
The handbook provides practical guidance on how to put in place the recommended treatment options at the scale needed to achieve national and global impact.
Moreover, the updated guidelines and supporting operational handbook have been designed. These handbooks are for use by national TB programmes, or their equivalents in Ministries of Health, policy makers and technical organizations. They work on TB and infectious diseases in public and private sectors and in the community. These documents aim to facilitate uptake of WHO policy in the field and thus improve the overall quality of TB services.
What they further cover?
WHO welcomes new initiatives by the public and private sectors to reduce the pricing of pretomanid and potentially other component medicines. Furthermore, this will lower the cost of the new BPaLM/BPaL treatment regimen and make it more accessible.
WHO is all set to facilitate and promote implementation of the new regimen for the treatment of DR-TB. The set up for online discussion will include high MDR/RR-TB burden countries, civil society, technical partners and donor community.
