Woman’s plea for action on XDR-TB

South Africa's Phumeza Tisile, 23, is one of only 13 percent of patients to have survived extensively drug resistant TB.

South Africa's Phumeza Tisile, 23, is one of only 13 percent of patients to have survived extensively drug resistant TB.

Published May 20, 2014

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Durban -

A South African woman who survived extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) is petitioning world leaders to take action to improve treatment.

Phumeza Tisile, 23, is one of only 13 percent of people worldwide to have survived XDR-TB.

She delivered her urgent plea on Monday before the World Health Assembly (WHA) discussions in Geneva on the new, 20-year global strategy to tackle TB.

The assembly, now in its 67th year, is the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Tisile spoke alongside Doctors Without Borders (MSF) about the crucial steps that governments needed to take against drug-resistant TB in the next 12 months.

She has been cured, having swallowed more than 20 000 pills during the gruelling, two-year treatment period.

But she lost her hearing.

The manifesto – “Test Me, Treat Me” – which she co-authored with MSF’s Dr Jennifer Hughes, calls for better treatment regimens.

“The TB research community, including research institutes and drug companies, must urgently deliver effective, more tolerable, shorter and affordable DR-TB (drug-resistant TB) drug regimens.”

The manifesto demands that treatment be reduced from two years to nine months. It calls for universal access to DR-TB diagnosis and treatment.

“Fast and reliable diagnostic techniques should be made widely available, so that DR-TB can be detected early and treatment started as soon as possible to improve our chances of cure, while reducing the risk of further transmission in our communities.”

South Africa has the third-highest incidence of TB in the world. The WHO estimates there were half a million cases of TB in 2012. The aim is to halve this and the global burden by next year.

More than 50 000 patients and caregivers signed the manifesto.

It will be shared with key power brokers including governments, funders, pharmaceutical companies and policymakers at the WHA, which starts today.

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