CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 19 (IPS) – The time has come for a definitive treatment for the Tuberculosis epidemic as we did with the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we emerge from the pandemic’s devastation on human lives and global economies, we must wake up to face 1.5 million TB deaths and 10 million new infections will be recorded in 2020. And death mostly in African and Asian countries.
These deaths are largely invisible as we battle COVID-19. Even as countries lift COVID-19 restrictions due to dwindling numbers, we know that Tuberculosis continues to spread.
Access to TB care is also hampered by pandemic restrictions and the prioritization of COVID-19 in diagnosis and care in health facilities. World Health Organization (WHO) scored is to reduce new TB cases by 90% and TB deaths by 95% by 2035. We have 13 years left to reach that milestone.
The harsh reality is that we still don’t have a protective vaccine and drug-resistant TB cases are on the rise. While the research was ongoing, a key factor hindering progress was lack of funding. The only currently available tuberculosis vaccine, Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), was developed in 1920, have limited effectiveness.
The relatively rapid availability of several vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for COVID-19 illustrates how billions of dollars in funding can speed vaccine development against a deadly disease. new. For example, funding for COVID-19 vaccine development is estimated at $107 billion while only 0.117 billion is for TB.
However, tuberculosis has already killed 1.5 million people in 2020 – mainly in African and Asian countries – while two million people died from COVID-19 worldwide during the same period. To date, there are 109 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 and only 14 for tuberculosis. As noted, we only have one TB vaccine while there are 18 vaccines available for COVID 19 .
Tuberculosis research requires at least U15 billion Singapore dollars for a chance to hit the 2035 goal. Currently, researchers have access to only half of this amount.
Why is there a lack of funding for a centuries-old deadly disease?
One could argue that TB research is too expensive. We have several stages in which to test any new drug or vaccine in clinical trials. Before testing in humans, new drugs and vaccines are tested in animals to ensure safety and an adequate immune response. Then there are at least four stages of testing in clinical trials. The next cost implication is that there are some strains of TB bacteria that increase the cost of testing.
Tuberculosis is a chronic disease that progresses slowly from infection to disease. Measuring vaccine effectiveness requires resources, time, and large sample sizes of people involved in these studies. These steps increase the complexity and cost of developing a TB vaccine. But these costs are small compared to what we spend on COVID-19 research.
Could funding reluctance stem from the fact that the TB burden largely falls on poor countries in the Global South? Tuberculosis is not a pandemic, so the need to find a vaccine or drug globally is different.
Pharmaceutical companies often invest in drugs and vaccines from which they can make a profit. As a result, rich countries have other health priorities. While rich countries are affected by COVID-19, TB is largely managed there.
Unfortunately, most of the people at risk for TB come from low- and middle-income countries, who will not be able to afford vaccines or expensive drugs. The incentive for these large pharmaceutical companies to invest in the development of a TB vaccine is very low.
In the 2016 report on “The Catalytic Framework to End AIDS, Tuberculosis and Eliminate Malaria in Africa by 2030”, the African Union (AU) itself noted that “Research and innovation funding is not prioritized within AU members, intra-African collaboration lags behind, and partnerships are still largely attracted outside Africa”. While external funding is crucial, African countries should strengthen and rethink strategies to accelerate the development of vaccines and anti-TB drugs.
As we roll out the COVID-19 vaccine and make ARVs available to HIV patients, we must renew our efforts to do the same with TB. Tuberculosis has a high cost of infection, treatment, and death. It is the biggest killer of HIV patients.
African and Asian countries should invest in vaccine and drug development because they have the heaviest burden. In addition, they must strengthen weak health systems and increase efforts to identify and adequately treat TB cases to stop transmission.
The HIV and COVID-19 pandemics have shown that money can be released when humanity is at stake. The rapid spread of SARS-CoV2 shows the fact that the modern world is a global village.
The world should wake up to the rise of drug-resistant microorganisms, including drug-resistant TB Tuberculosis is a real threat to humanity.
We should not wait for a COVID-like crisis to act. We need to harness the partnerships from one pandemic to prevent another. A world without TB is like a dream. An effective vaccine could make that happen.
Dr. Angelique Luabeya Kany Kany is the Head of Research for the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative, University of Cape Town. Dr. Luabeya is the principal investigator of several new TB vaccine clinical trials, two COVID 19 vaccine trials, and diagnostic studies. She is a WHO-TDR Clinical Research and Development Fellow.
© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
