En lynhurtig og prisbillig test mod tuberkulose er nu til rådighed for 45 u-lande takket være bistand fra bl.a. Gates Foundation – prøven tager kun et par timer mod langvarige og komplicerede laboratorie-tests som hidtil og prisen vil ikke stige frem til 2022.
NAIROBI, 7 August 2012 (PlusNews): The cost of a highly accurate, rapid diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) has been reduced by 40 percent under a new agreement between the US government, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the health financing mechanism, UNITAID.
GeneXpert, recommended by the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in December 2010, provides a two-hour diagnosis of TB, the TB/HIV co-infection, and drug-resistant TB.
“To date, the high unit cost of Xpert MTB/RIF cartridges (patroner)… has proven a barrier to their introduction and widespread use in low- and middle-income countries. The new agreement will immediately reduce the cost of cartridges used to diagnose TB by more than 40 percent,” UNITAID said.
The agreement will see the cost of cartridges drop from 16,86 to 9,98 US dollar, and the price will not increase until 2022. According to the WHO Stop TB Partnership, 45 developing countries and those with a high TB burden will benefit from the price cut.
Research suggests that increased use of the test in countries with high TB burdens could allow the rapid diagnosis of 700.000 cases of TB, and save health systems in low- and middle-income countries more than 18 million dollar in direct costs.
The test can be used outside of conventional laboratories because it is self-contained and does not require specialized training.
In countries like Kenya, where delays in laboratory diagnosis of TB lead to loss of follow-up and the continued spread of the disease, the news of a cheaper rapid test is welcome.
Læs videre på
http://www.plusnews.org/Report/96041/HEALTH-Major-price-cut-for-rapid-TB-test
Begynd fra:
“We have areas in the country where the TB burden……”
