Double Standards in Global Health: Medicine, Human Rights Law and Multidrug-Resistant TB Treatment Policy

Abstract The human rights arguments that underpinned the fight against HIV over the last three decades were poised, but ultimately failed, to provide a similar foundation for success against multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and other diseases of the poor. With more than 1.5 million deaths since 2000 attributed to strains of MDR-TB, and with half a million new, and mostly untreated, MDR-TB cases in the world each year, the stakes could not be higher. The World Health Organization (WHO), whose mandate is to champion the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health, recommended unsound medical treatment for MDR-TB patients in resource-poor settings from 1993-2002. Citing cost considerations, WHO did not recommend the available standard of care that had been successfully used to contain and defeat MDR-TB in rich countries. By acting as a strategic gatekeeper in its technical advisory role to donor agencies and countries, it also facilitated the global implementation of a double standard for TB care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), upending important legal and scientific priorities. This raises serious questions about whether the organization violated international human rights standards and those established in its own constitution. While calling for additional analysis and discussion on this topic, the authors propose that policymakers should reject double standards of this kind and instead embrace the challenge of implementing the highest standard of care on a global level

Scaling up evidence-based approaches to tuberculosis screening in prisons

People deprived of liberty have among the highest rates of tuberculosis globally. The incidence of tuberculosis is ten times greater than the incidence of tuberculosis in the general population. In 2021, WHO updated its guidance to strongly recommend systematic screening for tuberculosis in prisons and penitentiary systems. Which case-finding strategies should be adopted, and how to effectively implement these strategies in these settings, will be crucial questions facing ministries of health and justice. In this Viewpoint, we review the evidence base for tuberculosis screening and diagnostic strategies in prisons, highlighting promising approaches and knowledge gaps. Drawing upon past experiences of implementing active case-finding and care programmes in settings with a high tuberculosis burden, we discuss challenges and opportunities for improving the tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment cascade in these settings. We argue that improved transparency in reporting of tuberculosis notifications and outcomes in prisons and renewed focus and resourcing from WHO and other stakeholders will be crucial for building the commitment and investments needed from countries to address the continued crisis of tuberculosis in prisons

Early Outcomes of MDR-TB Treatment in a High HIV-Prevalence Setting in Southern Africa

BACKGROUND: Little is known about treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in high HIV-prevalence settings such as sub-Saharan Africa. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We did a retrospective analysis of early outcomes of the first cohort of patients registered in the Lesotho national MDR-TB program between July 21, 2007 and April 21, 2008. Seventy-six patients were included for analysis. Patient follow-up ended when an outcome was recorded, or on October 21, 2008 for those still on treatment. Fifty-six patients (74%) were infected with HIV; the median CD4 cell count was 184 cells/microl (range 5-824 cells/microl). By the end of the follow-up period, study patients had been followed for a median of 252 days (range 12-451 days). Twenty-two patients (29%) had died, and 52 patients (68%) were alive and in treatment. In patients who did not die, culture conversion was documented in 52/54 patients (96%). One patient had defaulted, and one patient had transferred out. Death occurred after a median of 66 days in treatment (range 12-374 days). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In a region where clinicians and program managers are increasingly confronted by drug-resistant tuberculosis, this report provides sobering evidence of the difficulty of MDR-TB treatment in high HIV-prevalence settings. In Lesotho, an innovative community-based treatment model that involved social and nutritional support, twice-daily directly observed treatment and early empiric use of second-line TB drugs was successful in reducing mortality of MDR-TB patients. Further research is urgently needed to improve MDR-TB treatment outcomes in high HIV-prevalence settings

Multidrug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis treatment regimens and patient outcomes: an individual patient data meta-analysis of 9,153 patients.

Treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is lengthy, toxic, expensive, and has generally poor outcomes. We undertook an individual patient data meta-analysis to assess the impact on outcomes of the type, number, and duration of drugs used to treat MDR-TB

Medicine betrayed: hemophilia patients and HIV in the US

The contamination of blood products by HIV in the early 1980s resulted in thousands of deaths among people with hemophilia in the United States and elsewhere. In the US, industry, government, physicians, and advocacy groups were implicated in this tragedy. In response to pleas from members of the US hemophilia community, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Science convened a public hearing to identify the institutional determinants of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among US hemophilia patients. The resulting IOM Report (1995) established a narrative of the crisis and indicated necessary improvements to the management of the US blood supply. The Report, however, failed to address the hemophilia community's demands for accountability and retribution. In this paper we explore the moral and social dimensions of this tragedy through narrative analysis of the original testimonies of hemophilia sufferers, interviews with some patients and their families, and a re-examination of the text of the IOM Report itself. We examine the process by which this crisis was addressed -- through the discourses of science and law -- and how it was ultimately framed as a failure of management and oversight rather than a moral failure of the for-profit health-care system. Thus, while the Report and its aftermath demonstrate powerfully how testimonials of suffering can influence public policy, by not addressing what is at stake for the victims -- failure to protect patients in an era of increasingly commodified health care -- it led to an exculpatory solution that obfuscated the moral dimensions of suffering.Hemophilia AIDS HIV infection US blood supply

Prices for a month's treatment of selected second-line agents in 2001 and 2011.

<p>Prices are given in constant 2011 dollars. Percentages indicate changes between highest actual and lowest quoted prices. GDF = Global Drug Facility. GF = Global Fund grant recipients.</p

Disease burden and health and economic characteristics of the 27 high-burden MDR-TB countries.

<p>MDR-TB prevalence and treatment enrolment statistics are from the 2013 Global TB Report by the World Health Organization <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001738#pmed.1001738-World2" target="_blank">[5]</a> and represent notified cases of TB. The total burden of MDR-TB may be higher than these estimates. Health systems rankings are from the WHO's World Health Report 2010, Annex, table 10. The systems ranking was discontinued by the WHO in 2000 and has not been updated since then. Poverty statistics are from the 2013 Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme.</p><p>Disease burden and health and economic characteristics of the 27 high-burden MDR-TB countries.</p