6 November 2015

The work of the Donald Woods Foundation featured in a panel at world’s first International Summit on Tuberculosis (TB) and Diabetes aimed at addressing the looming co-epidemic of tuberculosis and diabetes in Bali this week (2-3 November).

DWF Programme Manager, Rose Ewing, and the panel discussion themed Blueprint for Action: Rationales and Solutions for Fighting the Dual Diseases wrestled with issues such as:

• Specific action plans and strategies for combating TB-Diabetes,
• Different approaches to the problem and how do build organisational capacity, execute and measure impact,
• Potential collaborations,
• What are the challenges and location of world hot-spots.

Rose’s input represented the important view of the fight against TB in South Africa, a country with a high burden of the disease, particularly in the Eastern Cape, where the DWF works.

Rose’s fellow panellists included: the CEO, International Diabetes Federation, Dr. Petra Wilson and Dr. Amit Singhal, Project Leader, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN).

The Summit, entitled Stopping a Looming Co-epidemic: A Summit on Diabetes and Tuberculosis under the auspices of The International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and the World Diabetes Foundation, is a response to the global threat of a lethal co-epidemic.

The Summit was an opportunity for political leaders, healthcare practitioners and affected communities to “map a global strategy to head off the looming TB-diabetes co-epidemic”, organisers announced.

One strategy advocated by healthcare professionals and groups working in the sector is bidirectional screening – where people are tested presenting with diabetes for TB and vice versa. This is crucial in that Diabetes weakens the immune system, tripling a person’s risk of contracting TB.