Capsules

HEALTH AMBASSADOR

Big B for WHO’s hepatitis campaign

The World Health Organization has appointed Amitabh Bachchan as its Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in South-East Asia to boost awareness and intensify action to arrest the epidemic. “As a person living with hepatitis B, I know the pain and sufferings that hepatitis causes. No one should ever suffer from viral hepatitis,” Bachchan said at a WHO event. Though preventable, viral hepatitis kills 4,10,000 people in the region every year.

REGULATOR TAKES CHARGE

New FDA chief sworn in

Scott Gottlieb was sworn in as the 23rd Commissioner of Food and Drugs, the United States Food and Drug Administration said. Gottlieb is a physician, medical policy expert, and public health advocate who previously served as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs. The new FDA chief’s outlook on generic drugs will be of interest to many large Indian drug makers who export their medicines to the US.

EPIDEMIC ALERT

Drug-resistant TB in 2040

Cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis are expected to increase in the four highburden countries (India, the Philippines, Russia, and South Africa) up to 2040. The upturn is likely to be a result of increased transmission of drug-resistant TB between people, rather than by strains acquiring resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Better access to treatment programmes will not eradicate the problem, and current efforts may not be enough to reverse the epidemic.

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