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Analysis
Ending TB in Southeast Asia: current resources are not enough
  1. Vineet Bhatia1,
  2. Rahul Srivastava1,
  3. K Srikanth Reddy2,
  4. Mukta Sharma1,
  5. Partha Pratim Mandal1,
  6. Natasha Chhabra3,
  7. Shubhi Jhalani4,
  8. Sandip Mandal5,
  9. Nimalan Arinaminpathy6,
  10. Tjandra Yoga Aditama1,
  11. Swarup Sarkar7
  1. 1Department of Communicable Diseases, World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia, New Delhi, India
  2. 2Bruyere Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  3. 3Department of Sociology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  4. 4Knowledge Centre, Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Shillong, India
  5. 5Translational Global Health Policy Research Cell, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
  6. 6School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
  7. 7Department of Health Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
  1. Correspondence to Dr Swarup Sarkar; sarkar.swarup{at}gmail.com

Abstract

The Southeast Asia Region continues to battle tuberculosis (TB) as one of its most severe health and development challenges. Unless there is a substantial increase in investments for TB prevention, diagnosis, care and treatment, there will be catastrophic effects for the region. The uncontrolled TB burden impacts socioeconomic development and increase of drug resistance in the region. Based on epidemiological inputs from a mathematical model, a costing analysis estimates that the desired targets of ending TB are achievable with additional interventions, and critical thresholds require an increase in spending by almost double the current levels. The data source for financial allocation to TB programmes is the report submitted by countries to WHO, while projections are based on modelling. The model accounts for funding needs for all strategies based on published data and accounts for programme and patient costs. This paper delineates the resource needs, availability and gaps of ending TB in the region. It is estimated that close to US$2 billion per year are needed in the region for TB-related activities for a meaningful bending of the incidence curve towards ending TB.

  • tuberculosis
  • resource needs
  • southeast Asia region
  • end TB targets
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002073

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Seye Abimbola

    • Twitter @dr_vb, @srikanth_kreddy, @sandipmathmodel

    • Contributors The corresponding author SS conceptualised the analysis. SM and NA performed the modelling analysis. VB did the analysis and wrote the first draft. All other authors have contributed to the analysis and revising the manuscript, approved for submission.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement No additional data are available.