What are the aims of Task Force for Infectious Diseases?
The Task force for Infectious Diseases aims was intended to help and promote high-level policy dialogue amongst many countries, institutions and organizations. It emerged in 2005 after the outbreak of many infectious diseases. TID has evolved into a major global TASKFORCE to promote development between developing and riches countries.
TID aim is to combat infectious diseases in many countries, thus contributing to the health and welfare of people and of all humankind. TID coordinates strategies to prevent and treat HIV, AIDS, mers, tuberculosis and malaria.
Task Force for Infectious Diseases Group is located in Japan, with bi-annual meetings.
Different groups dedicated to each infectious diseases:
– Malaria group
– Tuberculosis and Plague group
– HIV group
– Influenza Group
– Ebola group
TID Aim : Affect the differences between rich and poor countries with respect to causes of death?
In high-income countries, 7 in every 10 deaths are among people aged 70 years and older. People predominantly die of chronic diseases: cardiovascular diseases, cancers, dementia, chronic obstructive lung disease or diabetes. Lower respiratory infections remain the only leading infectious cause of death. Only 1 in every 100 deaths is among children under 15 years.
In low-income countries, nearly 4 in every 10 deaths are among children under 15 years, and only 2 in every 10 deaths are among people aged 70 years and older. People predominantly die of infectious diseases: lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and tuberculosis collectively account for almost one third of all deaths in these countries. Complications of childbirth due to prematurity, and birth asphyxia and birth trauma are among the leading causes of death, claiming the lives of many newborns and infants.
Can we talk about Death ?
HIV deaths decreased slightly from 1.7 million (3.2%) deaths in 2000 to 1.5 million (2.7%) deaths in 2012. Diarrhoea is no longer among the 5 leading causes of death, but is still among the top 10, killing 1.5 million people in 2012. Tuberculosis, while no longer among the 10 leading causes of death in 2012, was still among the 15 leading causes, killing over 900 000 people in 2012.
How many young children die each year, and why?
In 2012, 6.6 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday; almost all (99%) of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. The major killers of children aged less than 5 years were prematurity, pneumonia, birth asphyxia and birth trauma, and diarrhoeal diseases. Malaria was still a major killer in sub-Saharan Africa, causing about 15% of under 5 deaths in the region.
Malaria : The forgotten tragedy
Malaria is one of our priorities for the further years.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by parasitic protozoans of the Plasmodium type. Malaria is one of the most severe public health problems worldwide. It is a leading cause of death and disease in many developing countries, where young children and pregnant women are the groups most affected. According to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report 2013 and the Global Malaria Action Plan.
We will put together pharmaceuticals companies and political institutions to talk about practical issues to progress in this dramatic situation.
Avian influenza: H5N8-H5N9
Known informally as avian flu or bird flu — refers to “influenza caused by viruses adapted tobirds. The version with the greatest concern is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The newest avian influenza strain, H5N8-H5N9, is spreading throughout Europe with cases confirmed in German, the Netherlands, and Britain. The first outbreak started at a turkey farm in Germany around November 6. This strain is very similar to one labeled H5N6 that arose in China, Republic of Korean, and Japan earlier this year.
Two meetings were already organized in 2006 and 2007 about Avian influenza at Pateur Institute in Paris.
Ebola and others Filoviruses
Filoviruses is a family of viruses of which the most commonly known members are Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Both viruses cause severe, usually lethal haemorrhagic fever in humans.
Filoviruses differ from dengue and other haemorrhagic fevers due to the fact that they can spread directly from person to person, where many other haemorrhagic fevers require an intermediate host, like a mosquito, to spread the disease.
Ebola virus disease (EVD), previously known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus strains. It has an incubation period of 2-21 days, and it usually begins as a sudden influenza-like syndrome, which rapidly progresses to multi-organ failure and coagulation abnormalities which manifest as internal and external haemorrhages.
The World Health Organization (WHO) was notified on March 23, 2014, of an outbreak of EVD in Guinea. The disease soon spread to the bordering countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone, which are the most severely affected countries. On August 8, 2014, the epidemic was declared a “public health emergency of international concern” (ref WHO Ebola Response Team, NEJM 2014, 371, 1481). Suspected cases of EVD have since been reported in seven affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spain, and the United States of America). Unprecedented in scale and geographical distribution since the identification of Ebola in 1976, the current epidemic has an apparent overall case-fatality ratio of about 70%; but it is suspected that many more cases have gone unrecorded. The WHO reported on October 14, 2014 that the number of new Ebola cases could reach 10,000 per week by December 2014. On October 31, more than 5000 deaths and 13.567 cases had been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, according to the WHO.
Dr Reiko Suzuki – TID Committee
Did you like the news ? Please share it with your circle.