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| Year : 2017 | Volume
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| Issue : 5 | Page : 1111-1112 |
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| Combating infectious diseases on the global scale in the era of the sustainable development goals |
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Saurabh R Shrivastava, Prateek S Shrivastava, Jegadeesh Ramasamy
Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Ammapettai, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Click here for correspondence address and email
| Date of Web Publication | 6-Nov-2017 |
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How to cite this article:
Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS, Ramasamy J. Combating infectious diseases on the global scale in the era of the sustainable development goals. Ann Trop Med Public Health 2017;10:1111-2 |
How to cite this URL:
Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS, Ramasamy J. Combating infectious diseases on the global scale in the era of the sustainable development goals. Ann Trop Med Public Health [serial online] 2017 [cited 2020 Feb 21];10:1111-2. Available from: http://www.atmph.org/text.asp?2017/10/5/1111/217535 |
Dear Editor,
Globally, in the era of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), remarkable improvements were observed in the prevention and control of infectious diseases in heterogeneous settings.[1] At this juncture, the policy makers, health authorities and team of health workforce across the world can take the credit for their efforts, but it is very much clear that the battle against these infectious diseases has just begun and a lot needs to be done to ensure that by 2030, the world succeeds in ending the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and control hepatitis, waterborne diseases, and other infectious diseases.[1],[2] Almost all the targeted infectious diseases are major public health concerns and there is a great need to integrate efforts from all the concerned sectors and stakeholders to mitigate the problem in the coming years as planned.[2],[3] As a matter of fact, millions of people have been newly diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus, tuberculosis, malaria and other NTDs each year, and millions lose their lives due to the delay in medical attention.[2] In addition, significant proportions of people are often not diagnosed of their infection status and thus continue to infect and transmit the disease.[1] Further, in most of the low-resource settings, the communities are facing the problem of lack of awareness about the infectious diseases and are often not availing health care due to the absence of information about the nature of the services available.[1],[2],[3]
Moreover, the issues of lack of political commitment, no mechanism to prioritize the health concerns, absence of comprehensive policies, poor implementation of the existing strategies, lack of funding, poor management of available resources, incomplete or absent surveillance mechanisms, poor monitoring or supervision, absence of inbuilt evaluation mechanism to assess the effectiveness of strategies, poor quality of primary health care, failure of the health system to provide integrated health care, ineffective referral mechanism, emergence of antimicrobial resistance, and stigma associated with these infectious diseases, are the major barriers, which are very much present in the roadmap to eventually achieve the targets proposed under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the infectious diseases.[1],[2],[3],[4]
The ultimate aim of these goals is to leave no one and ensure universal health coverage is achieved irrespective of any determinant.[2],[4],[5] The need of the hour is to sustain the gains achieved during the MDG era, and then build upon their success in the coming 15 years.[1],[2] The strategies for the prevention and control of the infectious diseases have to be formulated in such a manner that the health system is strengthened (in terms of infrastructure or human resources, better diagnostics, logistics or drug supply, etc.), active engagement of the community, integrated measures for vector control are implemented, and improved social mobilization and communication activities are executed in the affected regions.[1],[6]
Moreover, owing to the fact that health is multi-dimensional in nature, the policy makers and international stakeholders should simultaneously work to end poverty and hunger, provide quality education, and even combat climate changes.[1],[3] At the global level, health agencies have realized the necessity to control the infectious diseases and hence action plan have been formulated to control them.[1],[2] Further, emphasis has been given to promote research, encourage sharing of information and resources, develop financing mechanisms to fund the prevention and control activities, and implement measures to address the identified barriers.[3],[5],[6]
To conclude, infectious diseases continue to have long-term impact on people's lives, especially in the low-resource settings. Thus, it is of great importance to accelerate the pace of ongoing activities, as any laxity from the health or the allied sectors will lead to the emergence of these diseases in great number once again.
Acknowledgement
SRS contributed in the conception or design of the work, drafting of the work, approval of the final version of the manuscript, and agreed for all aspects of the work.
PSS contributed in the literature review, revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content, approval of the final version of the manuscript, and agreed for all aspects of the work.
JR contributed in revising the draft, approval of the final version of the manuscript, and agreed for all aspects of the work.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
 References | |  |
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| 3. | Jha A, Kickbusch I, Taylor P, Abbasi K. SDGs Working Group. Accelerating achievement of the sustainable development goals.. BMJ 2016;352:i409.  |
| 4. | Fitzpatrick C, Engels D. Leaving no one behind: A neglected tropical disease indicator and tracers for the sustainable development goals.. Int Health 2016;8:i15-2. [ PUBMED] |
| 5. | Acharya M. Universal health coverage as a distinct sustainable development goals target: Dispelling doubts and underlining implications.. Front Public Health 2015;3:238. [ PUBMED] |
| 6. | Lönnroth K, Raviglione M. The WHO's new end TB strategy in the post-2015 era of the sustainable development goals.. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2016;110:148-50. |
Correspondence Address:
Saurabh R Shrivastava
Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Ammapettai village, Thiruporur, Guduvancherry Main Road, Sembakkam Post, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1755-6783.217535
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