Ghana to receive new TB treatment for $ 15

A new patient-friendly preventive tuberculosis (TB) treatment will soon be rolled out in Ghana and four other high-burden countries at an affordable price.

This should reduce the number of tablets needed for the treatment of tuberculosis from nine to three per week.

Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zimbabwe are the other countries to receive
fixed-dose combination therapy at a cost of 15 UDS.

This new tuberculosis treatment regime is implemented by the International Drug Purchase Facility (Unitaid), the Presidential Emergency Plan for the Fight against AIDS (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Sufficient treatment for up to three million patients is expected to be made available to eligible countries this year.

Providing the new treatment will help achieve the United Nations High Level Meeting (HLM) goal of providing TB treatment to at least 30 million people by 2022.

Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Program, said WHO welcomes new fixed-dose combined preventive tuberculosis treatment that would reduce the burden of the pill for people infected with tuberculosis while allowing better compliance and better results.

He said that with the new regime, WHO looked forward to a ramp-up of national programs supported by donors and partners to expand access to preventive treatment for tuberculosis and achieve the goals of the high-level meeting. United Nations level.

Mr Robert Matiru, director of the programs division at Unitaid, said the ceiling price agreement for pills negotiated with Macleods was another example of his commitment to ensuring that effective, quality-assured and affordable preventive therapies are available. available in low- and middle-income countries. countries.

He said Unitaid would ensure a healthy market for all manufacturers wishing to develop and commercialize rifapentine products.

People infected with tuberculosis, often referred to as latent, have no symptoms, are not contagious, and most do not know they are infected.

Without treatment, five to ten percent of people will develop active tuberculosis, the form that makes people sick and can be passed from person to person.

Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs, it is spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

In 2019 alone, 10 million people became ill with tuberculosis, nearly 1.5 million people died of tuberculosis, and currently more than 95% of people living in low- and middle-income countries live with it. tuberculosis.