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Tag Archives: TB

09.28.18

Getting to the roots of TB: The promise of health equity programs of action

By Eric A. Friedman

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease of, above all, the people whom society has marginalized. Certainly everyone is at risk, and some who are not at the margins of society – health workers, for example – are among those at heightened risk. Yet the risk of contracting and dying from the disease is greatest among an array […]

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Thematic Areas: Global Health Policy & Politics Health & Human Rights

07.16.18

The incivility of (too-) civil society in the tuberculosis response

By John Stephens

Anyone who knows the world of the global tuberculosis response knows, too, its refrain: “We must do for TB what we did for HIV!” It is less rallying cry than lament.  Those of us who form part of “civil society” at the international level in the TB world attend the big TB conferences, but mostly […]

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04.30.18

Who will lead the TB response?

By John Stephens

“We will have to put poor people from affected communities at the centre of our response. We will have to organise and mobilise. And then be willing to hold our governments to account.” ~ Anele Yawa, General Secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign   A turning point for tuberculosis? This could be a big year […]

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12.31.17

The Use of Confinement in the Name of Public Health

By Drew Aiken

Photo: Smithsonian Magazine Throughout recent history, confinement has been justified by countries on purported ‘public health’ grounds to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. However, too often the practice of confinement leads to egregious rights violations through overly-broad use of isolation or other forms of confinement, which sometimes includes excessive and lengthy duration and tends […]

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11.20.17

Tuberculosis: Fighting an Ancient Illness with Outdated Tools, Medicines and Approaches

By Drew Aiken

A colleague recently observed that we are addressing one of the most ancient diseases with approaches nearly as ancient, including over-hospitalization, use of involuntary isolation and in some countries, use of discriminatory and punitive laws which violate human rights and impede the fight against TB. Draconian laws are not the only archaic aspect of the […]

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10.30.17

Addressing Gendered Aspects of Tuberculosis

By Drew Aiken

  While some gendered aspects of tuberculosis are beginning to be better understood, there is limited information and focus on addressing certain risk factors and vulnerabilities that impact men and women differently. TB now kills more people than any other infectious disease, and evidence suggests that women may be more vulnerable to forms of extra-pulmonary […]

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09.29.17

Investment in Tuberculosis R&D Is an Urgent Human Rights Issue

By Drew Aiken

  Photo: Treatment Action Campaign  Tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable and treatable disease which kills more people globally than any other infectious disease, approximately 5,000 every day. Despite grim statistics and the plethora of human rights violations that occur in the context of TB, there is inadequate funding, and limited public awareness that TB remains […]

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03.27.17

Why You Should Attend This Year’s Health Rights Litigation Intensive

By O’Neill Institute

“Participating in the Health Rights Litigation course in September of 2013 granted me the opportunity to interact with some of the best minds on health and human rights in the world. I was among forty-four participants who were representative of twenty-four countries from around the world. I attended the course at a time when KELIN […]

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05.03.16

Making Every Life Count by Counting Every TB Death

By Eric A. Friedman

At a recent event in Washington, DC, South African Minister of Health and chair of the Stop TB Partnership Aaron Motsoaledi, spoke of the difficulty of lighting the fire under TB, to get the world’s attention, even as this scourge kills 1.5 million people per year, making it the second most deadly infectious disease after […]

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