Paris, France – 10 June, 2008 – The International Union Against Tuberculosis and
Lung Disease (The Union), an international organisation established in 1920 to fight
tuberculosis and promote lung health worldwide, has prepared a report, published in PLoS Medicine by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), on managing diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, epilepsy and other non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa that will provide lessons for treating patients worldwide.

Prof. Donald Enarson, Senior Advisor at The Union and co-author of the study, declared: “In terms of drug availability, sub-Saharan Africa faces frequent stock interruptions of essential medication for managing these non-communicable diseases, and with a growing amount of diabetes and its complications, many patients have extremely short life
expectancies in this part of Africa. Patients with asthma are still receiving sub-standard care and have poor access to essential medications. Within a country, new programmes for non-communicable diseases should be piloted in one or two facilities, and lessons learnt from these facilities can be used to assist national roll-out within the public sector.”

Prof Anthony Harries, Senior Advisor at The Union and co-author of this study, added:
“Through better management of patients with non-communicable diseases, lives could be saved by adopting standardized approaches that identify, treat, supervise and allow follow-up of these patients. Health care professionals and policy makers should learn from TB control programmes that have gained political commitment; provide diagnosis using simple testing, treatment with a standardized course of medications, an uninterrupted supply of these medications and a monitoring and evaluation system.”

The Public Library of Science, a recognised non-profit organisation of scientists and
physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely
available public resource and a medical reference, has selected this report by The Union
and its partners to be published in its June issue, saying that better management can be
achieved in treating non-communicable diseases by learning from the success of TB control programmes.

Ultimately, this study is expected to have an enormous impact on learning more about
better management of high blood pressure, diabetes, strokes, asthma, epilepsy and mental illnesses, which are a growing burden in sub-Saharan Africa, where poor health care delivery systems and unavailability of drugs are in urgent need of improvement.

The Union assists countries in their efforts to improve health services by providing
permanent on-site technical assistance; conducting operational research with its network of international experts in low- and middle-income countries, and offering international training courses and conferences worldwide. It also conducts extensive field work while providing strong management tools to support programmes and improve policies.