WHO launches the GLC Report for 2008
December 2nd, 2009
Ensuring the universal access to Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment until 2015 stands for one of the most ambitious Millennium Development Objectives as an integrated part within the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015).
In order to achieve this objective it is necessary to intensify and diversify the worldwide efforts made for preventing and controlling this disease. An efficient TB management that would also include the multidrug resistant forms (MDR-TB) and those resistant to almost all the existent anti-tuberculosis medications (XDR-TB) needs significant financial resources. Other resources needed are an infrastructure of diagnosis and hospitalizing in special conditions and an adequate training and expertise of the medical staff.
In order to meet these challenges, the year 2000 brought to life the Green Light Committee - GLC, a structure that promotes and facilitates the distribution at a worldwide level of the rational use of the second line anti-tuberculosis medicines.GLC developed a mechanism through which the countries can benefit of technical assistance in order to tailor the international recommendations to the each country's specific.
The countries, which are in line with all the criteria and prove a successful implementation of the DOTS Strategy and have a solid plan in approaching the MDR-TB, benefit of second line anti-tuberculosis medicines.Moreover, GLC ensures technical assistance in implementing the MDR-TB control programs starting right from the drawing up phase including also the in progress TB control programs.
Recently, the World Health Organization launched the GLC Report for 2008 that contains information on the worldwide TB evolution and also details on the procurement and distribution policies of the MDR-TB medicines. The purpose of these efforts stands for the decrease of the new MDR-TB yearly registered cases.
For more detailed information on the MDR-TB and XDR-TB evolution and treatment you can access The GLC Report launched by WHO (available only in English).
