The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Jan 2008
ReviewGlobal perspective on tobacco control. Part II. The future of tobacco control: making smoking history?
Serious efforts to reduce the harm caused by tobacco use throughout populations require implementation policies and interventions capable of reaching all smokers and potential smokers. While the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control promises to accelerate the adoption of comprehensive tobacco control policies throughout the world, its extensive 'optional' language provides considerable latitude for governments unwilling to implement rigorous controls. This paper examines four broad areas in which important debates and policy advances will be necessary to ensure population-wide impact of tobacco control: harm reduction; demand reduction strategies involving particularly the use of news generation in increasing the coverage of tobacco and health issues; denormalisation of tobacco use, especially among health workers in nations where use remains high; and further efforts to regulate the tobacco industry, particularly in regard to plain packaging, under-the-counter retail sales and the regulation of tobacco products.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Jan 2008
ReviewGlobal perspective on tobacco control. Part I. The global state of the tobacco epidemic.
Tobacco smoking is losing adherents in some countries, and a number of international developments may dramatically change the choices people make concerning tobacco. However, the growth of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the world is nevertheless assured-tobacco consumption is rising globally because of increased consumption in many low-income countries. Risk of COPD is strong wherever smokers are found, and even among former smokers, it remains high for decades. ⋯ Smoking-related COPD rates will continue to be high for some time. The future of COPD is related most dramatically to low- or middle-income countries, where more than four in five current smokers in the world live. The predictable health consequences of smoking, including an enormous burden in COPD, have only begun to emerge.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Jan 2008
India's Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme: looking beyond detection and cure.
Pune District, Maharashtra State, India. ⋯ Interventions aimed at providers to encourage early suspicion and referral to the RNTCP, such as the PPM, are more important in improving patient access to TB care than those focusing on reducing patient delays.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Dec 2007
Chest physiotherapy for collecting sputum samples from HIV-positive patients suspected of having tuberculosis.
A public referral hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. ⋯ Physiotherapy shows promise as a technique for obtaining sputum from HIV-positive patients, and AFB testing of a single sample presents high sensitivity. However, this does not preclude the routine collection of three samples, as TB cannot be ruled out before the culture results are known.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Dec 2007
TB presenting as community-acquired pneumonia in a setting of high TB incidence and high HIV prevalence.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and a high incidence of tuberculosis (TB). ⋯ M. tuberculosis was the leading cause of CAP and reflects the worsening TB epidemic in the region. Aggressive intervention is required to address both the HIV and TB epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa.