investments to support countries with greatest burden of viral hepatitis All heavily burdened countries to have fully funded elimination plans by 2019 Recognition of need to focus on high burden countries and support for national policy development (All) Funding for national elimination plans Creation of fiscal space for new programmes with costed investment programmes Adopt domestic innovative finance tools where appropriate Support national policy makers in their activity (WHO, UNITAID, NGOs) Provide international support for financing measures (UNITAID, GFATM, bilaterial donors) Prevention Ensure all WHO elimination targets addressed in plans Address operational challenges in delivery of birth dose HBV vaccine Ensure provision of harm reduction services and engage with marginalised group (e.g. prisoners, PWIDs). Ensure clear public health messages to encourage testing and treatment Support countries to decriminalise injecting drug use and ensure equitable access to services for all (NGOs, WHO, civil society) Ensure appropriate funding for HBV vaccine, including birth dose (GAVI, WHO) Support R&D into HCV vaccine development (Research funders and pharma) Testing and Models of Care Focus on substantially scaling up testing for HBV and HCV Create and evaluate simplified care pathways relevant to local setting, integrating with existing services. Promote task sharing and decentralisation of care through capacity building, training and removal of Support operational research into simplified pathways (Research funders, UNITAID) requirements for specialised prescribing Diagnostics Ensure testing is integrated into the wider healthcare system, rather than centralised facilties Ensure access to quality diagnostics through Essential Diagnostic List and prequalification (WHO, funders) Support implementation science for models of care and R&D into novel diagnostics suitable for decentralised settings. (Research funders, FIND, industry) Access to treatment Ensure all Essential Medicines for viral hepatitis are included in national programmes, with an emphasis on pan-genotypic regimens Apply comprehensive policy approach to promoting access, including compulsory licensing Ensure all essential medicines are pre-qualified and either available through voluntary licensing or Medicines Patent Pool (WHO, NGOs, civil society, funders) Support shared procurement mechanisms for treatment (PAHO) Monitor Progress National plans need clearly defined, measurable objectives Develop new indices of national progress Progress of individual countries needs to be closely monitored towards elimination goals (Polaris, WHO, Creation of Elimination Index) Develop greater capacity for advocacy in high burden regions (all) Viral hepatitis is one of the leading causes of death in the world. 96% of those deaths are due to hepatitis B and C, which are the focus of this commission. Unlike many other major diseases, the tools exist to eliminate viral hepatitis. A highly effective vaccine is available to prevent hepatitis B, and a revolution in HCV treat...
The best available data indicate that the world is heading towards a pandemic of extensively drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae. At the same time, clinical microbiology laboratories have moved away from using culture-based methods to diagnose gonorrhoea, thus undermining our ability to detect antimicrobial resistance (AMR) using current technologies. In this Opinion article, we discuss the problem of N. gonorrhoeae AMR, particularly emerging resistance to the cephalosporin ceftriaxone, outline current concerns about the surveillance of N. gonorrhoeae AMR and propose the use of molecular methods on a large scale to systematically enhance surveillance.
The COVID-19 pandemic is growing rapidly, with over 37 million cases and more than 1 million deaths reported by mid-October, 2020, with true numbers likely to be much higher in the many countries with low testing rates. Many communities are highly vulnerable to the devastating effects of COVID-19 because of overcrowding in domestic settings, high burden of comorbidities, and scarce access to health care. Access to testing is crucial to globally recommended control strategies, but many communities do not have adequate access to timely laboratory services. Geographic dispersion of small populations across islands and other rural and remote settings presents a key barrier to testing access. In this Personal View, we describe a model for the implementation of decentralised COVID-19 point-of-care testing in remote locations by use of the GeneXpert platform, which has been successfully scaled up in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia. Implementation of the decentralised point-of-care testing model should be considered for communities in need, especially those that are undertested and socially vulnerable. The decentralised testing model should be part of the core global response towards suppressing COVID-19.
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