March 24 - World Tuberculosis Day
March 24 - World Tuberculosis Day
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease known to mankind for many centuries. They can be infected in various ways: airborne, contact-household, food. The insidiousness of the infection lies in the fact that it gradually destroys the human body and in the initial stages is asymptomatic. Unfortunately, the majority of the population believes that tuberculosis affects only the disadvantaged segments of the population. However, this is not the case. Anyone can get sick, and even from well-off families with normal income, because people have different resistance to tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from infectious diseases in the world. Every day, almost 4,500 people die from tuberculosis, and almost 30,000 people become ill with it. However, there is a prospect of defeating tuberculosis, as it is a preventable and curable disease.
Every year, for 38 years, on March 24, the world community celebrates World Tuberculosis Day, which was established in 1982 by the International Union to Fight Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, together with the World Health Organization. The selected date has a symbolic value. It was timed to coincide with the discovery on March 24, 1882, by the German microbiologist R. Koch of the causative agent of tuberculosis. The initiative has found wide support and dissemination. The first event was held on the 100th anniversary of the scientific breakthrough awarded the Nobel Prize. The emblem of TB Day is a white chamomile, which represents healthy breathing.
In September 2018, in an effort to accelerate the fight against tuberculosis, the heads of state held the first-ever UN High-level Meeting, at which they made large-scale commitments to eliminate tuberculosis.
The goal of the TB Day is to draw attention to the scale of the spread of the infection, which threatens the health and lives of millions of people on the planet and the need to take effective measures to remedy the situation.
In the context of the increased attention of the Government of the Russian Federation to the health of the population of the country, the problems of tuberculosis, as a socially significant disease, are very relevant and are constantly monitored at the state level. Especially acute are the problems with the increased cases of detection of tuberculosis patients with multidrug resistance of the pathogen to anti-tuberculosis drugs as a result of the Koch bacillus mutation, cases of tuberculosis among HIV-infected people, which significantly reduces the chances of a cure.
The main task in improving the epidemiological situation is to implement measures to reduce the morbidity and mortality of the population from tuberculosis, which, first of all, includes the prevention of tuberculosis. First of all, this is an annual fluorographic survey of the population over 15 years old and tuberculin diagnostics among children. The effectiveness and importance of preventive examinations is evidenced by the fact that 73.2% of the number of patients with tuberculosis in 2019 were identified during preventive examinations and did not make any complaints. In children, the most important method of specific prevention is also anti-tuberculosis BCG immunization, which helps to fight tuberculosis infection if it enters the body. Unfortunately, in the region, cases of refusal of parents to vaccinate children against tuberculosis have become more frequent, which creates a threat of tuberculosis.
Much attention is paid to the problems of tuberculosis by the Administration of the Lipetsk region and the Health Department. Every year, funding is provided from the federal and regional budgets for the purchase of medicines for the treatment of patients, the purchase of the latest medical and diagnostic equipment, and the strengthening of the material and technical base. Well-equipped tuberculosis sanatoriums for the treatment of adults and children continue to operate in the region. Antitubercular sanatoriums of federal subordination are actively used for treatment and rehabilitation.
The main sections of the work of the anti-tuberculosis service of the region are: comprehensive treatment of tuberculosis patients, dispensary observation of patients, preventive work, coordination of work on early detection of tuberculosis in institutions of the general medical network, health education of the population.
Actively and persistently carried out anti-tuberculosis measures have made it possible to achieve stabilization of the epidemiological situation on tuberculosis in the region in recent years. In 2019, 315 cases of tuberculosis were registered in the region, which is 30 cases less than in 2018.
Against the background of a decrease in the incidence of tuberculosis in 2019, there is also a decrease in mortality from tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is a problem of the whole society. It is impossible to stop tuberculosis by the efforts of medical workers alone. Everyone should know about tuberculosis, about the methods of its prevention and apply this knowledge in everyday life.
The main objectives of the World Tuberculosis Day in 2020 are aimed at attracting the attention of public and state organizations to the problem of tuberculosis. Informing the general population about the danger and serious consequences of tuberculosis infection, about measures of personal and public prevention of the disease, about the need for timely preventive examinations for early detection of the disease and timely treatment. It is necessary to emphasize the importance of each individual's personal contribution to solving the problem of tuberculosis control.
In 2020, the World Tuberculosis Day in the WHO European Region will focus on the critical role of nurses in eliminating this preventable and treatable disease. The events held on this day will be aimed at raising public awareness of this problem and encouraging the adoption of the necessary measures for the final elimination of TB.
Chief physician of the State Medical Institution "LOPTD" A.V. Staroselsky
